CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Cricket

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many registered amateur cricket clubs there were in each region in  (a) 2000,  (b) 2002,  (c) 2004,  (d) 2006 and  (e) 2008.

Ben Bradshaw: Sport England has advised that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) does not hold details of how many registered community amateur cricket clubs there were in each region in each of the last 10 years.
	However, the ECB holds details of the number of community amateur cricket clubs registered as Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) since CASC status was established in 2002.(1)
	(1) From 2004 publication of collated data changed from November to May of each year.
	
		
			  Date  Number of registered cricket clubs 
			 November 2002 25 
			 November 2003 103 
			 May 2004 314 
			 May 2005 587 
			 May 2006 758 
			 May 2007 842 
			 May 2008 953 
			 May 2009 1,032

Departmental Public Expenditure

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1376W, on public expenditure, how much his Department  (a) allocated and  (b) spent on (i) sport, (ii) the arts and (iii) heritage in 2008-09.

Si�n Simon: holding answer 9 September 2009
	It is my Department's policy to publish details of funding spent, as opposed to funding allocated, to avoid confusion or potential double-counting where end-year flexibility has been applied or where funds have been transferred in year. The amount of Exchequer funding spent by DCMS and its NDPBs on sport, the arts and heritage in 2008-09 is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  2008-09 
			   £000 
			 Sport (including central DCMS spend) 215,813 
			 Arts (including central DCMS spend) 435,465 
			 Heritage (including Royal Parks and Listed Places of Worship Scheme plus central DCMS spend) 224,833

English Heritage: Fees and Charges

Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the average price of entry to an English Heritage property was in  (a) 1996-97,  (b) 2008-09 and  (c) 2009-10.

Si�n Simon: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Information from English Heritage is that the average price of entry to an English Heritage property, based on one full price adult ticket, in 1996-97, 2008-09 and 2009-10 is as set out in the following table.
	
		
			   Average charge (£)  Constant sample of sites 
			 1996-97 2.16 104 
			 2008-09 4.33 104 
			 2009-10 4.52 104

Heritage Lottery Fund: Grants

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been distributed by the Heritage Lottery Fund  (a) in cash terms and  (b) expressed in current prices in each year since its foundation.

Si�n Simon: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Information from the Heritage Lottery Fund is that the amount paid to recipients of HLF grants in each financial year is as set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Actual cash terms  Current prices 
			 1994-95 0 0 
			 1995-96 35.9 49.5 
			 1996-97 79.0 105.0 
			 1997-98 129.7 168.1 
			 1998-99 186.2 236.3 
			 1999-2000 264.9 329.7 
			 2000-01 374.4 459.9 
			 2001-02 241.6 290.3 
			 2002-03 245.1 285.3 
			 2003-04 303.9 344.1 
			 2004-05 284.8 313.7 
			 2005-06 356.6 385.6 
			 2006-07 339.1 356.1 
			 2007-08 299.4 306.0 
			 2008-09 297.1 297.1

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when a reply will be sent to the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton's letter dated 27 July 2009 to him with regard to Ms Gina Hine, referred to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Si�n Simon: A response was sent from my right hon. Friend the Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) on 8 September 2009.

Music

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of music venues and rehearsal spaces which have closed in  (a) London and  (b) each region in each of the last five years.

Si�n Simon: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The information required to make these assessments is not held centrally.

Music

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects the 12 pilot community music rehearsal spaces announced in December 2007 to be operational.

Si�n Simon: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The first spaces were opened in Liverpool and Bristol in May and July 2009, respectively. It is difficult to be precise about the opening dates of further spaces-each has different requirements for instruments and these have to be sourced and costed before we can make a grant offer for the local authority concerned to consider. However, we are hopeful of making such offers in respect of five further spaces in the next few months-in St. Austell, Nottingham, Washington (near Sunderland), Hastings, and rural Norfolk. Discussions are also under way about setting up spaces in Manchester, Coventry and Birmingham.

Swimming

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria will be applied to the assessment of local authority bids for Phase 2 funding from his Department's free swimming initiative.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 20 July 2009
	The overall aim of the Government's free swimming programme is to encourage more people to swim by assisting in modernising and enhancing publicly accessible swimming pools including pools at maintained schools of any category in England.
	Applications to the second round of the Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Programme will be assessed against the criteria laid out in the programme prospectus, which was agreed by the Free Swimming Capital Project Board (comprising DCMS, Department for Children, Schools and Families, Sport England, the Amateur Swimming Association and Local Government Association representatives) for both rounds of funding (2009-10 and 2010-11). I have arranged for copies of the prospectus to be placed in the House Library.

TRANSPORT

A1(M): Hertfordshire

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when he expects the roadworks on the A1(M) in the vicinity of junction 4 to be completed; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mole: The roadworks in the vicinity of A1(M) junction 4 are to carry out a major refurbishment of the Hatfield tunnel. Works are programmed to be completed in April 2010.

A1: Nottinghamshire

John Mann: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when the  (a) Blyth fly-over and  (b) associated A1 improvements in Nottinghamshire will be open.

Chris Mole: The new two-level junction on the A1 at Blyth was fully opened to traffic in October 2008.
	The associated A1 improvements in Nottinghamshire at Apleyhead and Markham Moor junctions were fully opened to traffic in October 2008 and March 2009 respectively.
	The scheme replaces the roundabouts at Blyth, Apleyhead, Markham Moor and Gonerby Moor with two-level full grade separated junctions, and provides two-level compact junctions at Colsterworth and Carpenters Lodge. The scheme separates A1 traffic and local journeys thereby reducing congestion and delays, improving safety and journey time reliability. The project which has improved and upgraded six junctions between Blyth and Peterborough will be substantially completed on 7 October 2009.

A14: Kettering

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport when physical construction work on widening the A14 between junctions 7 and 9 around Kettering is scheduled to  (a) start and  (b) finish.

Chris Mole: The construction work on widening the A14 between Junctions 7 and 9 is currently scheduled to start in autumn 2011 with completion expected by spring 2013.

A14: Kettering

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the  (a) average and  (b) peak daily traffic volumes for the A14 between junctions 7 and 10 around Kettering were in the latest period for which figures are available; and what they are forecast to be in (i) 2010, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2020.

Chris Mole: A table providing information on the average and peak daily traffic volumes for the A14 between Junctions 7 and 10 around Kettering for the latest period and for 2010, 2015 and 2020, has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Bus Services: Concessions

Simon Hughes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what steps his Department plans to take to assist local authorities to meet the cost of freedom passes for pensioners and the disabled.

Chris Mole: Local authorities receive the bulk of their funding for concessionary travel via the formula grant system, which is administered by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Since April 2008, local authorities have also received funding from the Department for Transport in the form of a special grant to meet the additional cost of the extended England national bus concession. The special grant was £212 million in 2008-09, has risen to £217 million this year and will increase to £223 million in 2010-11. The Government are confident that there are sufficient funding, in total, for statutory concessionary travel.
	In addition, the Government paid a grant of around £31 million in 2007 to local authorities outside London to replace existing bus passes with new ITSO smartcard passes. Over eight million of these have now been issued. London has received a grant of £4.8 million in 2009 to facilitate the replacement of existing freedom passes with new smartcard passes from April 2010.

Corby Station

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport further to his letter to the chair of the Transport Select Committee dated 6 July 2009, how many passengers  (a) boarded and  (b) alighted from trains at Corby railway station on each day since 14 June 2009.

Chris Mole: A table of the number of passengers originating and terminating their journey at Corby each day since 14 June 2009 has been placed in the Library of the House.

Kettering Station

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how many passengers travelling  (a) north and  (b) south on the Midland Mainline (i) boarded and (ii) alighted from trains at Kettering station on each day since 27 April 2009.

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Although there is no readily available breakdown of north/south journeys, a table of the number of passengers originating and terminating their journey at Kettering each day since 27 April 2009 has been placed in the Library of the House.

London Midland: Standards

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the minimum level of service required to be delivered on any particular day of the week is for London Midland to fulfil its rail franchise agreement.

Chris Mole: London Midland is required to provide levels of services which are consistent with the minimum specification which is detailed in the Service Level Commitment which forms part of the Franchise Agreement. A copy of the Service Level Commitment for London Midland can be found on the Department for Transport's website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/publicregister/current/londonmidland/lmcommitment2.pdf

London Midland: Standards

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment has been made of whether the level of service provided by London Midland on 6 September 2009 was in compliance with the terms of its franchise.

Chris Mole: London Midland is required to report to the Department for Transport their performance after the end of each railway reporting period. The current rail industry period ends on Saturday 19 September. London Midland will then submit their performance reports to the Department for review. This will include data for Sunday 6 September and this will enable an assessment to be made of London Midland's performance.

Motor Vehicles: Fuels

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what information his Department holds on the effects of the ethanol and bio content of some modern fuels on fibreglass fuel tanks and bonding glue; if he will issue guidance to motorists on the matter; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Mole: Fibreglass fuel tanks and aftermarket sealing agents are not used on modern road vehicles. Consequently, potential impacts of bioethanol on these materials do not pose a problem for motorists in general.
	There is evidence from other countries that petrol with 10 per cent. ethanol content can have a deleterious effect upon some older fibreglass fuel tanks, depending upon the type of resin that was used in their construction. This issue has primarily affected fuel tanks on leisure marine vessels, although some older road vehicles may also have been affected. However, ethanol content of UK petrol is not expected to exceed 5 per cent. in the next few years. We do not at present have robust evidence of whether or not these issues could occur at the 5 per cent. ethanol content level.
	We are currently discussing these issues with stakeholders, in the context of plans to implement the EU fuel quality directive 2009/30/EC. The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs in particular has raised concerns about the potential impacts of petrol containing ethanol on fibreglass fuel tanks and products used to reseal fuel tanks on older vehicles. We plan to let research to assess this issue over the next few months.
	The only detailed information we hold on specific materials incompatible with ethanol is fuel industry guidance on materials used in storing petrol containing up to 10 per cent. ethanol content at filling stations and fuel terminals etc. This indicates that fibreglass using polyester and epoxy resins are not compatible with this fuel.

Railways: Construction

David Lidington: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the estimated cost to the public purse is of the work  (a) undertaken and  (b) commissioned by Network Rail into possible new high-speed rail routes from London to other major cities.

Chris Mole: The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested. This is an operational matter for Network Rail as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his questions:
	Iain Coucher
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	Kings Place
	90 York Way
	London, N1 9AG.

Railways: West Midlands

David Lidington: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what the estimated cost to the public purse is of High Speed Two's work to produce a report on a possible new rail link between London and the West Midlands.

Chris Mole: The estimated cost of High Speed Two's work is £8.5 million.

Rescue Services: Hope Cove

Anthony Steen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1272W, on rescue services: Hope Cove, what the basis is of the operational restrictions upon the Hope Cove lifeboat prior to the consultation process taking place.

Chris Mole: The operational restrictions placed on the MCA boat at Hope Cove are for the safety of its volunteer crew and the public.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Waste Disposal

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the potential effects on human health of odours from agricultural muck-spreading.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA, or MAFF as it was previously, has not undertaken any research specifically into the effects on human health of odours from agricultural muck spreading.
	MAFF carried out a programme of research in the late 1980s/early 1990s to assess what factors affected the emissions of odours from the application (spreading) of agricultural manures to land to identify means of minimising emissions. As a result of this research, guidance on good practice was produced for the agricultural industry in the MAFF/DEFRA Code of Good Agricultural Practice. A copy of the code is available at:
	www.defra.gov.uk/farm/environment/cogap/
	The code has provided the agricultural industry with guidance on the best equipment and techniques to use to minimise emissions while applying manures. It has also provided advice about the timing of manure applications, with respect to weather, days of the week and holidays etc., to minimise the impact on surrounding residents.
	Local authority environmental health departments are responsible for investigating and abating statutory nuisances under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. One of the statutory nuisances in the Act is. [...] smell [...] arising from industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance'. Agricultural manure spreading activities have the potential to give rise to odours which may cause a statutory nuisance if not properly managed. There is no UK research at present which would conclusively demonstrate any adverse effects from agricultural odours on health. Therefore, in statutory nuisance investigations, proceeding under the nuisance limb of statutory nuisance is the more likely path.
	There is also no evidence, as far as DEFRA is aware, of workers in the agricultural industry suffering adverse health effects from manure odours, despite the fact that they are inevitably exposed to higher concentrations of odours during the loading, transporting and spreading of agricultural manures than off-site receptors or residents.
	Some odour emissions are inevitable from the application of agricultural manures, but with good management the impact and duration of these odours can be minimised. The use of agricultural manures is an important means of recycling plant nutrients into food production in a sustainable manner, and thereby reducing fossil fuel inputs and greenhouse gas emissions. These benefits have to be balanced against the potential for some short-term localised impact during seasonal peaks of manure application activities.

Animal Welfare Act 2006

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent progress has been made on the implementation of codes of practice for animal welfare under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Huw Irranca-Davies: During the last 12 months, we completed public consultation exercise on four draft codes-for the keeping of cats, dogs, equines and regulations and a code for meat chicken welfare. We are also consulting on the welfare of non-human primates in private ownership. We have been considering the many responses we had to the consultation on each draft code and have held discussions with key stakeholders. Once the draft codes have been finalised we will then ask Parliament to approve them.

Countryside: Access

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he had on his recent visit to Ilam Hall Youth Hostel on the role of the Youth Hostels Association in providing access to the countryside for young people from towns and cities.

Huw Irranca-Davies: When speaking at the formal opening of the Ilam Youth Hostel, Hilary Benn stated the important role which institutions such as the Youth Hostels Association play in not only enabling visitors to enjoy the benefits of our National Parks, but also in helping the next generation appreciate the invaluable role the National Parks play in combating climate change.

European Fisheries Fund

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to seek funding from the European Fisheries Fund to assist the fishing industry following the agreement of the days-at-sea limit in December 2008.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The European Fisheries Fund (EFF) can provide assistance to UK fisheries to adapt to conservation measures by improving their sustainability, for example in marketing and technology fields. Regulatory and regional selection criteria apply and applicants should first make contact with the Fisheries Department within their operational area for direct advice on application procedures.

Fisheries

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development on UK fisheries.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Constructive discussions with ministerial colleagues in the devolved administrations, including Northern Ireland, has culminated in the establishment of a Joint Ministerial Working Group to deliver proposals for quota management and licensing reforms. That work is now ongoing.
	I was also pleased to be able visit Northern Ireland recently, to discuss with Michelle Gildernew and industry representatives the economic situation, the future of effort control/days at sea, the prospects for the autumn negotiations and other issues of importance to the local fleet.

Floods: Finance

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's plans are for expenditure on flood defences in 2010-11; and how much it spent in 2009-10.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Government are committed to effective management of flood and coastal erosion risk. It stands by its previous forecast of spending a record £2.15 billion on flood and coastal erosion risk management over three years and its commitment to spend £780 million in the 2010-11 financial year, with £20 million of the original £800 million moved forward into 2009-10 budgets to provide early protection for 27,000 homes.
	Within the Government's previously announced figures for 2010-11, £659 million is going to the Environment Agency, local authorities' own expenditure will be an estimated £87 million and the remainder retained by DEFRA to implement the Pitt Review findings and help communities to adapt to climate change.
	In August, the Secretary of State announced which local authorities will benefit from funding set aside to implement the findings of the Pitt Review.

Food Supply

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to increase the UK's self-sufficiency in food.

Huw Irranca-Davies: One of DEFRA's departmental strategic objectives is to ensure a sustainable, secure and healthy food supply. We want to see a British farming sector that is competitive, and producing food that consumers want in a way that is sustainable, so as not to jeopardise the ability of future generations to exploit and enjoy our natural resources and landscapes.
	The UK is currently 60 per cent. self-sufficient in all food, a higher proportion than in the 1950s. However, this figure tells us very little about UK food security. We need to maintain a range of supply sources for our food to spread the risk that might entail from over-reliance on one or a few supply sources, and to lower the impacts of any unforeseen disruptions involving any particular trading partner or from within our domestic food sector.
	The Department does not have targets for self-sufficiency in food. Government's role is to support the industry to improve its performance through better self-assessment of the relative economic performance of individual businesses, more effective take-up of new technology and better management skills. We are also working with stakeholders to identify measures by which the agricultural sector can sustainably increase its resilience and productivity, strengthening food security within the UK.

Food Supply

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his estimate is of the percentage of food consumed in the UK which was grown in the UK in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Huw Irranca-Davies: In 2008, 53 per cent. of food consumed in the UK was produced in the UK. This figure is a provisional estimate.
	Please note that this percentage should not be confused with the measure of UK self-sufficiency in all food, which in 2008 was 60 per cent. (provisional figure), since self-sufficiency shows the percentage of all UK food production, including UK exports, as a percentage of consumption. Both measures are based on the value of unprocessed food.

Incinerators

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many waste incinerators were operational in England at the latest date for which figures are available.

Dan Norris: There are 18 municipal waste incinerators operating in England, generating over 200 MW of electricity.

Incinerators

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the percentage of waste arisings incinerated in each year since 1997.

Dan Norris: The table shows the percentage of municipal waste sent for incineration in England from 1997-98 to 2007-08. This includes both waste incinerated with, and without, energy recovery. The majority is incinerated with energy recovery.
	
		
			   Percentage of municipal waste sent for incineration in England 
			 1997-98 6.36 
			 1998-99 8.19 
			 1999-2000 8.41 
			 2000-01 8.59 
			 2001-02 8.47 
			 2002-03 8.87 
			 2003-04 8.95 
			 2004-05 9.51 
			 2005-06 9.95 
			 2006-07 11.09 
			 2007-08 11.12 
			  Source: WasteDataFlow and DEFRA's Municipal Waste Management Survey

Incinerators

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many prosecutions there have been for offences related to poor air quality arising from incinerator use in each year since 1997.

Huw Irranca-Davies: A search of the Environment Agency's National Enforcement Database (NED) has uncovered no prosecutions for offences related to poor air quality arising from incinerator use.
	All large plants are subject to the requirements of the Waste Incineration Directive which are embodied in their Environmental Permits. Conditions set in the permits require emissions of pollutants to be kept to very low levels and oblige the operators to carry out detailed emissions monitoring.

Incinerators

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the weight of waste incinerated in each year since 1997.

Dan Norris: The table shows the tonnage of municipal waste sent for incineration in England from 1997-98 to 2007-08. This includes both waste incinerated with, and without, energy recovery. The majority is incinerated with energy recovery.
	
		
			  Municipal waste sent for incineration in England 
			   Thousand tonnes 
			 1997-98 1,634 
			 1998-99 2,156 
			 1999-2000 2,310 
			 2000-01 2,411 
			 2001-02 2,447 
			 2002-03 2,607 
			 2003-04 2,604 
			 2004-05 2,818 
			 2005-06 2,859 
			 2006-07 3,237 
			 2007-08 3,169 
			  Source: WasteDataFlow and DEFRA's Municipal Waste Management Survey

Office of Water Services: Operating Costs

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the change in  (a) staff costs and  (b) other costs was between the Ofwat Business Plan for (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The changes in staff and other costs between Ofwat's Business Plans for 2007-8 and 2008-9 are detailed in the following table:
	
		
			  Business Plan/budget (£) 
			   Staff costs  Other costs  Total 
			 2007-08 8,326,645 4,673,355 13,000,000 
			 2008-09 10,203,867 7,696,133 17,900,000 
			 Increase 1,877,222 3,022,778 4,900,000 
		
	
	Ofwat set out in its 2008 strategy document Taking a forward look' that it needed to increase its budget for 2008-09 to take account of additional resources to deliver key projects including:
	delivering the 2009 price review;
	reviewing how it sets price limits in 2014;
	promoting competition in consumers' interests;
	enforcement; and
	litigation and casework.
	Ofwat's actual expenditure for the years 2007-08 and 2008-09 are available in its Resource Accounts, which are available on the website.

Water: EC Law

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department has issued on the implementation of the EU Water Directive.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has issued two volumes of guidance to the Environment Agency on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, both titled River Basin Planning Guidance.
	The first was published in August 2006 and sets out principles and key steps for the river basin planning process. The second was published in August 2008 and gives further consideration to the approach the Environment Agency should take in carrying out its river basin planning functions and the development of river basin management plans.
	DEFRA has also published River Basin Management Planning in the Solway Tweed River Basin District, which sets out the expectations for the joint delivery of the Water Framework Directive in Solway Tweed, a cross border river basin district shared between England and Scotland.
	All these guidance documents are published on the DEFRA website.
	We expect guidance on the proposed Groundwater Regulations, implementing the Water Framework Directive groundwater daughter directive, to be published for consultation shortly.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff from his Department are based in the provincial reconstruction team base in Lashkar Gar; what proportion of such staff  (a) have left the perimeter of the base by road during their tour and  (b) are performing roles which could be undertaken at Camp Bastion; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: There are over 140 UK, Danish and Estonian civilian and military staff working for the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). Over 50 staff from the FCO, DFID, MOD and Stabilisation Unit work in the Lashkar Gah Main Operating Base.
	Statistics on individual moves are not kept. However, based on staff functions, over 90 per cent. of the PRT staff will leave the Lashkar Gah base by road during their tour.
	The PRT works primarily with the Afghan Government, which is based in Lashkar Gah and the district centres. PRT staff could not carry out their work from Camp Bastion, which is in the desert. Furthermore, staff are co-located with Task Force Helmand HQ in Lashkar Gah and with battlegroups in the district centres, in order to co-ordinate effectively with the military.

Afghanistan: Agriculture

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the value to farmers in Afghanistan of growing  (a) pomegranates and  (b) poppies in the latest period for which figures are available.

Michael Foster: There are few data on returns to pomegranate farmers in Afghanistan. Estimates suggest that gross income could range from US $3,380 per hectare per year (Altai Consulting/UNDP, 2004) to $14,525 per hectare per year (Roots for Peace, 2009) after five to seven years maturation. The variation in gross income estimates depends on product quality, access to markets (including storage), price, yield and the proportion exported. However, set up costs can exceed $1,000 per hectare with the possibility of no return for the first four years following planting.
	The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report on poppy cultivation and prices in early September 2009. It contained the following assessment:
	This year, opium farmers saw their (gross) earnings per hectare shrink by one quarter, to $3,562/ha down from $4,662/ha in 2008. Falling prices and lower cultivation this year caused a 40 per cent. collapse in the total farm-gate value of opium production in Afghanistan, which is valued at $438 million.

Eritrea: International Broadcasting

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department has provided to Radio Erena to broadcast to Eritrea in the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: The Department for International Development (DFID) has not provided any support in the last three years to Radio Erena.

Sudan: Overseas Aid

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the monetary value of his Department's aid seized by the government of Sudan; what steps he is taking to ensure the return of that aid to the organisations to which it was directed; and if he will make a statement.

Douglas Alexander: No aid was seized directly from the Department for International Development (DFID) by the Government of Sudan. It is estimated, however, that around £500,000 of British-funded goods were included in the seizures of assets from non government organisations (NGOs). The UK condemned the expulsion and closures of the 13 international NGOs and three local NGOs in unequivocal terms. We have consistently said that the best way to repair the damage was to revoke that action.
	In partnership with the European Commission for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), USAID, and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), we have made it clear to the Sudan Government that the seizure of assets in this way was completely unacceptable. We expect it to make every effort to have the assets reassigned to other humanitarian programmes, as is common practice under closure or completion of DFID-funded humanitarian programmes.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 28 October 2008,  Official Report, column 956W, on housing, for what reasons the Housing Reform Green Paper will not be proceeded with; and which Minister took the decision not to proceed.

John Healey: The Government have taken decisive action to ensure this country's housing needs are met. We have committed to investing £7.5 billion over two years to deliver up to 112,000 affordable homes and around 15,000 private homes, including £340 million to support local authorities in delivering new council housing. We have taken early action to provide people facing the threat of repossession with help at every stage of the process. I am also introducing a range of major reforms to the social and private rented sector. This includes the consultations I have recently published on a devolved system of responsibility and funding for council housing, a major review of the private rented sector and changes to social housing allocations to give councils more leeway on decisions to allocate housing in their area, and the initiative I have launched to clamp-down on fraud in the social sector. In addition, I will be setting out further details of the Government's plans to support housing recovery and ensure people have access to decent homes later this year. I therefore currently have no plans to pursue an additional housing reform green paper.

CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES

Children: Human Trafficking

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of suspected trafficked children who have gone missing from local authority care in each of the last five years.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not collected centrally by the Department.

Children: Human Trafficking

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what arrangements have been made for the full implementation within the National Referral Mechanism of the provision of Article 10.3 of the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings giving children the benefit of the doubt where the age of the trafficked child is uncertain; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: Under the National Referral Mechanism for child victims of trafficking, where there are reasons to believe that a child is a victim of trafficking but there is uncertainty about their age, local age dispute or assessment procedures should be followed if necessary. Pending verification of their age, they will be presumed to be a child and will be referred to local authority Children's Social Care for support and a detailed assessment of their protection or welfare needs.

Children's Centres: Expenditure

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how much was spent on the Sure Start Children's Centres block of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08;
	(2)  how much was spent on the Childcare Sufficiency and Access Grant of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08;
	(3)  how much was spent on the Outcomes, Quality and Inclusion block of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08.

Dawn Primarolo: Details of expenditure on the Children's Centres revenue and capital blocks in each financial year between 2003-04 and 2007-08 are shown in the table.
	The Childcare, Sufficiency and Access and Outcomes, Quality and Inclusion blocks were only created in 2008-09.
	Therefore it is not possible to report expenditure on these specific blocks for the same period.
	For information the table does show some details of expenditure on the inclusion and childcare assessment blocks that formed part of the grant in earlier years.
	
		
			  Audited expenditure on individual blocks of the sure start, early years and childcare grant (formerly the general sure start grant) 
			   Financial year 
			   2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  Total 
			  PQ 291160   
			 Children's centre revenue 2,197,884 11,010,927 90,008,079 188,134,163 251,848,710 543,199,763 
			 Children's centre capital 2,053,422 12,294,561 184,354,187 202,957,222 286,352,714 688,012,106 
			 Children's centre combined 4,251,306 23,305,488 274,362,266 391,091,385 538,201,424 1,231,211,869 
			
			  PQ 291161   
			 Childcare assessment n/a n/a n/a n/a 75,115,698 75,115,698 
			
			  PQ 291162   
			 Inclusion n/a n/a n/a 20,667,031 31,830,834 52,497,865

Children's Centres: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what Sure Start children's centres are open in Hendon; what services each provides; what  (a) capital and  (b) revenue funding for them has been provided by (i) the Government and (ii) the London Borough of Barnet; and what steps he plans to take to ensure their future security of funding.

Dawn Primarolo: London borough of Barnet currently has 14 Sure Start Children's Centres up and running, of these three are in Hendon offering access to services to around 3,100 children under five and their families. There are no additional children's centres planned for Hendon.
	The Department allocates funding to local authorities for the capital start up and revenue costs of Sure Start Children's Centres through the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant. It is for local authorities to determine how to allocate the funding between individual centres. The Department does not collect information on how much is allocated and spent at centre level. Information on the services provided by individual centres is available from the local Family Information Service. London borough of Barnet's capital and revenue allocations for the delivery of Sure Start Children's Centres for 2008-11 can be found in the following table. We are committed to delivering 3,500 Sure Start Children's Centres by 2010, a children's centre for every community so every family has easy access to high quality integrated services in their community and the benefits of Sure Start can be felt nationwide. Funding allocations beyond 2010-11 will be subject to future spending decisions.
	
		
			  Barnet-children's centres funding all ocations f or CSR period 2008-11 
			   Revenue  Capital 
			 2008-09 3,651,335 781,046 
			 2009-10 4,912,063 1,638,600 
			 2010-11 5,983,537 959,513

Education Maintenance Allowance: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of students aged 16 to 18 years in each secondary school in Hendon were in receipt of education maintenance allowance in academic year 2008-09; what the expected equivalent figures are for 2009-10; and what assessment has been made of the effect of the allowance on numbers of pupils staying on in education in Hendon.

Iain Wright: The number of students in receipt of education maintenance allowance (EMA) in Hendon is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who operate the EMA for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Geoffrey Russell, the LSC's acting chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Hendon with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.
	We do not have evidence to show the impact of EMA at a local level. However evaluation of the EMA pilots showed that EMA led to increases in participation nationally by 3.8 ppts for 16-year-olds and 4.1 ppts for 17-year-olds.

GCSE

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils achieved  (a) five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C and  (b) five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in 2009.

Iain Wright: The information requested is not yet available. The requested figures will form a central part of a Statistical First Release (SFR) planned for 15 October 2009. Those figures will also be broken down by gender, school type and local authority.

GCSE

Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in which five non-core curriculum subjects the number of GCSE entries was highest in  (a) maintained comprehensive,  (b) maintained selective,  (c) maintained secondary modern and  (d) independent schools in 2009.

Iain Wright: The information requested forms part of the Department's data on GCSE achievement and attainment. Data for 2009 are not yet available. Any statistics based on these data will only be available for release after the publication of a Statistical First Release planned for 15 October 2009.

Schools

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which state schools in England serve a school population aged from three to 18 years old.

Vernon Coaker: The following state schools in England serve a school population aged from three through to 18-years old.
	
		
			  Establishment name  Local authority  Town  Establishment status  Type of establishment 
			 William Hulme's Grammar School Manchester Manchester Open Academy 
			 Serlby Park A 3-18 Business and Enterprise Learning Community Nottinghamshire Doncaster Open Community School 
			 Priory Witham Academy Lincolnshire Lincoln Open Academy 
			 Oxfordshire Hospital School Oxfordshire Oxford Open Community Special School 
			 Marjorie McClure School Bromley Chislehurst Open Community Special School 
			 Manchester Hospital Schools and Home Teaching Service Manchester Manchester Open Community Special School 
			 Lonsdale School Hertfordshire Stevenage Open Community Special School 
			 King Solomon Academy Westminster London Open Academy 
			 Haberdashers Askes Crayford Academy Bexley Bexley Open Academy 
			 Globe Academy Southwark London Open Academy 
			 Evelina Hospital School Southwark London Open Community Special School 
			 The Business Academy Bexley Bexley Erith Open Academy 
			 Blanche Nevile School Haringey London Open Community Special School 
			 Billing Brook Special School Northamptonshire Northampton Open Community Special School 
			 Bede Academy Northumberland Blyth Proposed to open (please see note 4) Academy 
			 Ark Academy Brent Wembley Open Academy 
			  Source:  EduBase

Schools: Barnet

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the allocation for Barnet for  (a) dedicated schools grant and  (b) guaranteed funding per pupil is for (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011; what the change in per pupil funding was in (A) cash and (B) percentage terms between 1997 and 2009; and what (1) total and (2) per pupil funding allocation for Barnet for 2009-10 is for (aa) school development grant, (bb) school standards grant, (cc) school standards grant (personalisation), (dd) ethnic minority achievement grant, (ee) extended schools, (ff) primary strategy, (gg) school lunch grant, (hh) music services, (ii) harnessing technology (ICT) and (jj) devolved formula capital.

Vernon Coaker: The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2008-09 to 2010-11 (indicative) for Barnet local authority is shown in table 1 as follows. This covers pupils aged three to 15.
	
		
			  Table 1: DSG Allocation for Barnet local authority 
			   £ million 
			 2008-09 (Final) 195.074 
			 2009-10 (Final) 202.138 
			 2010-11 (Indicative) 213.958 
		
	
	The guaranteed unit of funding for 2008-09 to 2010-11 for Barnet local authority is shown in table 2 as follows:
	
		
			  Table 2: Guaranteed unit of funding for Barnet local authority 
			   £ 
			 2008-09 (Final) 4,559 
			 2009-10 (Final) 4,723 
			 2010-11 (Final) 4,917 
		
	
	Per pupil revenue funding figures for pupils aged three to 19 for Barnet local authority for years 1997-98 and 2005-06 are shown in table 3. These figures are in cash terms.
	
		
			  Table 3 
			   Barnet local authority revenue funding per pupil 
			 1997-98 (£) 2,740 
			 2005-06 (£) 4,680 
			 Percentage increase between 1997-98 and 2005-06 (%) 71 
			  Notes: 1. Price Base: Cash. 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS and LSC. 3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged three to 19 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level. 4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC three-year-old maintained pupils and estimated three to four-year-olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers. 5. Rounding: Figures are rounded to the nearest £10. 
		
	
	The revenue per pupil figures shown in table 4 is taken from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). They are not comparable with those for the years 1997-98 to 2005-06 (in table 3 above) because the introduction of the DSG in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded.
	The 1997-98 to 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. The DSG is based largely on an authority's previous spending.
	In addition, the DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department's time series as the two sets of data are not comparable.
	To provide a comparison for 2008-09 DSG, the Department have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06 (the baseline); as described above this does not represent the totality of 'education' funding in that year.
	The total and per pupil revenue funding figures for 2005-06 and 2008-09 for Barnet local authority are provided in table 4 as follows. The figures are for all funded pupils aged three to 19 and are in cash terms:
	
		
			  Table 4 
			   Barnet local authority revenue funding per pupil 
			 2005-06 (Baseline) (£) 4,430 
			 2008-09 (£) 5,200 
			 Percentage increase between 2005-06 and 2008-009 (%) 17 
			  Notes: 1. This covers funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant, School Standards Grant, School Standards Grant (Personalisation) and Standards Fund as well as funding from the Learning and Skills Council; it excludes grants which are not allocated at LA level. 2. Price Base: Cash. 3. These figures are for all funded pupils aged three to 19. 4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10. 5. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal. 
		
	
	The figures for Standards Funds are recorded according to allocation per authority not per pupil; the following table shows the total allocations that Barnet has been awarded in 2009-10 for grants that the hon. Member for Hendon requested.
	
		
			  Grant name  2009-10 allocation 
			 School Development Grant 11,819,753 
			 School Standards Grant 7,215,008 
			 School Standards Grant (personalisation) 2,061,955 
			 Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant 2,887,337 
			 Extended Schools-Sustainability 747,190 
			 Extended Schools-Subsidy 170,721 
			 Extended Schools-Capital 545,093 
			 Primary Strategy: Targeted Support 1,044,874 
			 School Lunch Grant 488,946 
			 Music 333,851 
			 Harnessing Technology 903,101 
			 Devolved Formula Capital 5,128,895

Schools: Hendon

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which schools in Hendon have received central government capital funds other than devolved formula capital since 1997; how much each received in each year; for what purpose the grant was allocated in each year; and what the percentage difference was between capital expenditure on such schools in 1996-97 and 2009-10.

Vernon Coaker: The Department allocates much of its capital resources on a local authority area basis. It then relies on the local authority to prioritise resources between schools, including any further resource available locally. Accordingly, records on the schools in Hendon which have received funding since 1997, and their purposes, are not held centrally and would be held locally by Barnet local authority. Allocations to Barnet between 1996-97 and 2009-10 are set out in the following table.
	
		
			   £ million 
			 1996 3.1 
			 1997 1.8 
			 1998 5.6 
			 1999 3.9 
			 2000 12.0 
			 2001 8.9 
			 2002 48.7 
			 2003 15.1 
			 2004 22.0 
			 2005 18.6 
			 2006 69.7 
			 2007 15.5 
			 2008 26.3 
			 2009 40.4 
		
	
	The allocation figures show the year the financial commitment was made by the Department. The £69.7 million in 2006-07 includes a Building Schools for the Future pathfinder allocation and an Academy, and the £40.3 million in 2009-10 includes an advance of funding brought forward from 2010-11 as part of the Government's fiscal stimulus.

Special Educational Needs

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when Ofsted plan to report on their review of special educational needs.

Diana Johnson: Ofsted's review of special educational needs and disabilities is planned to report in summer 2010. Further details about the review can be found at:
	http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Ofsted-s-2009-10-review-of-the-framework-for-children-and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs-and-or-disabilities

Special Educational Needs

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will commission research into educational provision for children in each category of special educational needs.

Diana Johnson: The Department for Children Schools and Families currently has an active programme of research across the special educational needs code of practice.
	Research currently under way includes a project which is exploring the apparent variation in the prevalence of children with SEN, how they are classified in terms of both condition and Code of Practice stage of support, and the provision of services to support them, with a view to understanding how a more equitable service offer can be supported. We also have a programme of research under way which aims to improve the evidence base relating to developing services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
	We are currently commissioning a formative and summative evaluation of the Achievement for All project and the approaches strategies, approaches and tools used within it, as well as an evaluation of a current programme to raise awareness of British Sign Language (BSL) and for increasing specialist work force able to provide courses in BSL being implemented in two pilot areas.
	We also recently published a qualitative research study looking at parental confidence in the special educational needs assessment, statement and tribunal system.
	Research projects funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families are published at:
	www.dcsf.gov.uk/research

Teachers: Recruitment

David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teaching appointments were made in England in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what percentage of these appointments were newly qualified teachers.

Vernon Coaker: The information is not available in the format requested.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Police Training College: Cwmbran

Paul Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for the former site of the Police Training College in Cwmbran.

Jack Straw: I have been asked to reply.
	Consideration is being given to disposal of the former Police Training College at Cwmbran, which is currently owned by the National Offender Management Service.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Departmental Manpower

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what percentage of employees in his Department are (a) women and  (b) men; and what the average hourly pay of (i) male and (ii) female employees is.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 20 July 2009
	 The percentage split is:
	
		
			   Percentage 
			 Women 43 
			 Men 57 
		
	
	The average hourly rate of pay for male and female employees is not available.
	The relatively new Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has been in existence since October 2008, and consists of posts taken from the former Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
	Since its creation, DECC has continued to use the pay provisions of its parent Departments. As a consequence, no separate DECC information on hourly pay rates is available, and could only be obtained by an exercise involving a review of the total HR systems and payrolls for both BERR and DEFRA. Therefore the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost to the Department. The effort required to administer your request would exceed the financial limit prescribed of £700, which represents the estimated cost of determining whether the Department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
	For information on former BERR and DEFRA staffing issues, please see the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey statistics published by the Office for National Statistics. These can be found at the following website:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/cs0109.pdf
	These statistics are collected from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, but please note that the ONS collects the annual gross salary of civil servants and does not produce hourly rates of pay. The latest published statistics are for 31 March 2008, and consequently do not feature stats for DECC.

Electricity

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment he has made of the level of vulnerability of the electricity supply network to malicious damage.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Electricity companies have a legal obligation to ensure their network is designed and maintained to protect the public and consumers from the dangers of electricity and provide quality and continuity of supply. These obligations are contained in the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 and enforced by DECC.
	It is the responsibility of distribution companies to assess and manage the risks associated with the security of their network, including the prevention of unauthorised access to their network assets, and to put forward expenditure forecasts to Ofgem for an appropriate level of expenditure to meet their obligations. This is done on a five yearly basis as part of the price control review process. Ofgem has a role in evaluating this expenditure to ensure that the costs are efficient and is currently conducting this cost assessment process for the fifth price control review process which is due to take effect from 1 April 2010.

Electricity

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many incidents of malicious damage to the electricity network in the UK have been recorded in the last five years.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 9 September 2009
	 Since 1 April 2004 there have been nine supply interruptions reportable under the Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002 which were classified as an act of vandalism or unauthorised operation of equipment.

Energy: Prices

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effects of the conditions imposed by domestic energy suppliers on customers on social tariffs on their ability to change supplier; and if he will make a statement.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 9 September 2009
	 All customers are free to switch at any time provided that there is no outstanding debt on their account. There are no additional conditions for customers who are on their supplier's social tariff.

Fuel Poverty

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the number of households designated as being in fuel poverty which use  (a) heating oil,  (b) liquefied petroleum gas,  (c) mains gas and  (d) other systems of heating; and if he will make a statement.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 9 September 2009
	 The most recently available fuel poverty statistics relate to 2006. Figures for the number of households in fuel poverty in England are produced from analysis of the English House Condition Survey.
	
		
			  Number of households in fuel poverty 
			   Thousand 
			 Heating oil 202 
			 Bulk LPG 36 
			 Gas (mains) 1,669 
			 Other 525 
			 Total 2,432

Gas and Electricity Markets Authority

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the merits of extending the remit of Ofgem to include responsibility for regulation of the bottled gas market.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The Gas Act 1986 (as amended), which among other things set up the gas regulatory bodies, exempted liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from its provisions. The Gas Act principally addressed the issues of setting up a regulatory regime to ensure that the national transmission system for gas users was not exploited. In contrast, there is no natural monopoly in the transport of LPG by road. The LPG market operates with a number of distributors competing for supply using alternative supply sources. In that sense, it is broadly similar to other products such as diesel and petrol.
	The Department has not therefore made an assessment of the merits of extending the remit of Ofgem to include responsibility for regulation of the market for LPG. My officials however have had meetings with Consumer Focus to contribute to its assessment of the market in Great Britain for the supply of LPG and heating oil for domestic use.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the reported  (a) 84 per cent. increase in helicopter hours and  (b) 60 per cent. increase in the number of helicopters available to British forces in Afghanistan includes helicopters provided by coalition forces transporting UK armed forces.

Bob Ainsworth: The 60 per cent. increase in the number of helicopters and the 84 per cent. increase in helicopter hours available to UK forces in Afghanistan relate to the period from November 2006 to April 2009; these increases do not include helicopters or helicopter hours provided by other coalition forces.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for what reasons the journalist Michael Yon is no longer embedded with British armed forces in Afghanistan.

Bob Ainsworth: Opportunities to embed with Task Force Helmand are in high demand from across the media-national, regional, print, broadcast, specialist and new media. It is not possible to meet all requests and slots must be time-limited to ensure that the opportunities are shared as widely as possible. A normal embed for a national news organisation will last on average around two to three weeks, including time for travel.
	Michael Yon had been embedded with British forces on a number of occasions before his recent visit-twice in Iraq in 2007, and once in Afghanistan in 2008. His latest embed had been scheduled to last for two weeks but it was extended to take account of delays to his arrival.
	In all, his stay was extended twice and he was embedded for five weeks-much longer than is normally the case, and longer than had been agreed with him before he went. He was facilitated by British forces in a number of locations and given a high level of access both to the operations and to our personnel. At the end of this five-week period Task Force Helmand ended his embed as they were no longer able to support it given their other commitments, including other media visits.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of  (a) Jackal,  (b) Panther and  (c) Viking vehicles in Afghanistan are fully operational.

Quentin Davies: I am withholding this information as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of our armed forces in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of food consumed by members of the armed forces in Helmand province consisted of locally-grown agricultural products in the latest period for which figures are available.

Quentin Davies: No locally produced food has been procured for British troops in Helmand Province by the MOD Food Supply Contractor.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Tornado airframes deployed to Afghanistan have been unserviceable for more than 30 days since the date of deployment since 2001.

Quentin Davies: One Tornado aircraft deployed to Afghanistan has been unserviceable for more than 30 days; this has had no operational impact.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopter journeys have been made to transfer civilian staff to and from the provincial reconstruction team base in Lashkar Gar in the last 12 months; how many of these were for the transport of civilian staff  (a) stationed at and  (b) visiting the base; and if he will make a statement.

Quentin Davies: This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of the budget of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom was spent in  (a) Scotland,  (b) England,  (c) Northern Ireland and  (d) Wales in each of the last 12 months.

Quentin Davies: holding answer  9 September 2009
	The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Afghanistan

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has received requests for UK troops to be deployed to Afghanistan from  (a) NATO and  (b) individual NATO member states in the last six months.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 September 2009
	As announced by the Prime Minister at the NATO summit on 3-4 April, the UK deployed an additional 700 troops to Afghanistan following a request from NATO earlier in the year for forces to support the Afghan presidential elections.

Armed Forces: Afghanistan

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel have served in Afghanistan since 2001.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 September 2009
	As at 1 August 2009, 71,560 members of the UK armed forces have been identified as having deployed to Afghanistan. This includes UK regular forces, Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel and mobilised reservists.

Armed Forces: Bullying

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many cases of bullying in each of the armed forces have been reported in each year since 1997.

Quentin Davies: The following table reflects the number of bullying complaints reported since October 2006 for each service. Some tri-service defence organisations do not record the service to which the complainant belongs. Statistical data prior to October 2006 are not held centrally.
	
		
			   Royal Navy  Army  RAF  Tri-service organisations with placed military 
			  Formal complaints 
			 October 2008 to March 2009 6 25 18 5 
			 October 2007 to September 2008 14 18 40 1 
			 October 2006 to September 2007 16 40 28 0 
			  
			  Informal complaints 
			 October 2008 to March 2009 29 38 23 6 
			 October 2007 to September 2008 65 37 52 3 
			 October 2006 to September 2007 67 51 50 0

Armed Forces: Health Services

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much of the budget of the Defence Medical Services was spent in Scotland in each of the last five years.

Kevan Jones: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Medical policy for the Defence Medical Services (DMS) is overseen by the Surgeon General's Department (SGD). However, the organisational structure of the DMS means that comprehensive costs by location can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, the majority of secondary health care is provided in NHS hospitals. The single service medical services are responsible for delivering primary health care to their respective service commanders-in-chief. This includes local medical centres (including GP surgeries), Regional Rehabilitation Units (including one in Edinburgh) and military Departments of Community Mental Health (including three in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness). Owing to the number of different internal budgets to which costs would be attributable, any detailed analysis of the budget spent in Scotland would incur disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Higher Education

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure his Department incurred on postgraduate education for serving members of the armed forces normally based in  (a) England,  (b) Scotland,  (c) Wales and  (d) Ireland in each year since 1997.

Kevan Jones: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Housing

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was charged to occupants of Modern Housing Solutions housing for damage to that housing in each financial year since 1997.

Kevan Jones: Details of the total amounts charged are only available from November 2007 and represent the charges for all service family accommodation (SFA) in Great Britain (up to 31 March 2008) and the UK thereafter. The charges were as follows:
	
		
			  Period  Total amount charged (£) 
			 1 November 2007 to 31 March 2008 (1)200,070 
			 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 (2)1,080,394 
			 1 April 2009 to 31 August 2009 (2)473,759 
			 (1) GB SFA only. (2) UK SFA only 
		
	
	These charges also cover SFA properties in Scotland, which are not maintained by Modern Housing Solutions.

Armed Forces: Indonesia

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future training for members of the Indonesian Kopassus Special Forces by the UK Joint Counter-Terrorist Training and Advisory Team; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The MOD provides military advice and assistance to Indonesia as part of normal security cooperation and wider UK Government relations, as the Government do with many countries worldwide.

Armed Forces: Mental Health Services

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he plans to take to improve the provision of mental health services to serving and former members of the armed forces.

Kevan Jones: MOD takes very seriously its responsibility to provide high-quality mental healthcare to its personnel, and Defence Medical Services' mental health practitioners remain in touch with the latest advances and developments in treatment in order to ensure that patients receive the most effective and efficient management, subject to proper scientific evaluation and comparison with current effective treatments. We sponsor research and epidemiological studies that address aspects of the mental health of both the in-service and veteran populations. We also maintain a close dialogue with the military medical services of our principal allies, to share understanding and best practice. Additionally, our Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health, based at King's College London, is constantly reviewing the development of new treatments across the national and international spectrum and producing advice accordingly.
	Diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in members of the armed forces are performed by trained and accredited mental health personnel. In Afghanistan, we deploy uniformed mental health nurses to provide in-theatre care and treatment for our personnel. If personnel need to leave the operational environment, then their care continues either on an out- or in-patient basis in the UK or their permanent base overseas.
	In the UK, our mental health services for military personnel are configured to provide community-based mental health care, primarily through our 15 military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMH) across the UK (plus centres overseas), which provide out-patient mental healthcare. The DCMH mental health teams, comprising psychiatrists, mental health nurses, clinical psychologists and mental health social workers, have particular expertise in treatments for psychological injury.
	For the relatively small number of military patients who need it, in-patient care is currently provided by a group of seven NHS trusts located throughout England and Scotland, led by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust (SSSFT) through a central MOD contract.
	When personnel leave military service their healthcare becomes the responsibility of the NHS. Ex-Service personnel receive good treatment from their GPs but we recognise that many health professionals have limited experience of dealing with veterans who have mental health symptoms arising from their Service experience. The MOD, the four health departments and the Combat Stress charity have been working together with clinical experts and the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS) to develop a new model of community based mental healthcare that will address assessment and treatment of veterans' mental health problems in the long term.
	The community mental health model is NHS-led and reflects NHS best practice. Two-year pilots, tailored to local circumstances, are operating at Staffordshire and Shropshire Foundation Healthcare Trust, Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, Tees Esk and Wear NHS Trust, Cornwall NHS Partnership, and NHS Lothian (led by the Scottish Executive). Evaluation of the pilot areas is now underway; early results from all six are encouraging, with evidence that veterans feel able to access and use the service with confidence. Informed by the results of the evaluation the service will be rolled out across the UK. In the interim, for areas not yet involved in the pilots, veterans with operational service after 1982 who are concerned about their mental health can attend our Medical Assessment Programme based at St. Thomas' hospital, for specialist mental health assessment by a consultant psychiatrist with extensive military experience.

Armed Forces: Mental Health Services

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel normally based in Scotland were referred to the Priory Clinic as  (a) inpatients and  (b) outpatients in each year since 2003.

Kevan Jones: An interim arrangement for the contracting of service mental health provision was signed with the Priory Group commencing in December 2003. The full contract, whereby the Priory Group became the primary provider of in-patient mental health provision, commenced on 1 April 2004.
	The available data are anonymised for reasons of patient confidentiality. Therefore, it is not possible to identify which patients from all those treated would be categorised as service personnel normally based in Scotland.
	From the available information the following numbers of in-patients were treated at the Glasgow Priory Clinic since 2003 but referrals could have included patients from locations outside Scotland:
	
		
			   Number of patients treated 
			 1 December 2003-31 March 2004 (1)- 
			 1 April 2004-31 March 2005 30 
			 1 April 2005-31 March 2006 37 
			 1 April 2006-31 March 2007 23 
			 1 April 2007-31 March 2008 28 
			 1 April 2008-7 February 2009 25 
		
	
	Out-patient care is usually provided by the MOD's military departments of Community Mental Health, of which there are three in Scotland located at Leuchars (Edinburgh), Faslane (Glasgow) and Kinloss (Inverness). The only specific out-patient only referrals that we contract for is the provision of psychology treatment. This element of the Priory contract commenced in 2006 and the total number of patients referred can be found in the table:
	
		
			   Number of patients treated 
			 1 April 2006-31 March 2007 0 
			 1 April 2007-31 March 2008 (1)- 
			 1 April 2008-7 February 2009 7 
			 (1) Indicates a number less than 5, and is used to protect patient confidentiality, in line with our standard practice for very low numbers of patients. 
		
	
	The contract with the Priory Group has been replaced by a new one, awarded in November 2008 following open competition, with a partnership of seven NHS trusts led by South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what grounds applications to join the armed forces may be rejected.

Bill Rammell: The armed forces' aim is to recruit the required numbers of high calibre personnel, irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, religion or gender and without reference to social background or sexual orientation, into the Naval Service, Army and Royal Air Force, in order to meet operational requirements. However, applications may be rejected for the following reasons:
	Age
	Medical
	Security vetting e.g. nationality and residency rules
	Education/qualifications
	Suitability at interview
	Criminal convictions including drugs
	Debt
	Incompatible religious belief e.g. Satanists
	Offensive or obscene tattoos.

Depleted Uranium: Scotland

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many times and at what locations depleted uranium shells have been test-fired in Scotland in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much is Department has spent on test-firing depleted uranium shells in the last five years;
	(3)  how many depleted uranium shells were test-fired in Scotland in each of the last five years;

Quentin Davies: Depleted uranium shells were test-fired at the MOD-owned Kirkcudbright Range in Scotland on 11 and 12 March 2008. This is the only occasion on which depleted uranium shells have been test-fired in the last five years; 20 shells were fired in total. The estimated cost of the test-firing is £60,000.

Guided Weapons

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of  (a) the Global Positioning System and  (b) NIDAR radar for missile tracking.

Quentin Davies: There is no proposal to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) for missile tracking, although under QinetiQ's proposed changes to the operation of the MOD Hebrides Range, aerial targets would be tracked via GPS.
	QinetiQ's proposals also include tracking missiles via the existing G Band Radars on South Uist, which have increasingly taken over from the I Band NIDIR Radars on St. Kilda. The primary capability of NIDIR Radars is tracking missiles at long range and low level.

Guided Weapons

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many missile practice camps there were at each UK missile range in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009 to date; what missiles were tested at each; how many camps there will be in (i) the remainder of 2009 and (ii) 2010; and what missiles will be tested at each.

Quentin Davies: Details of Missile Practice Camps(1) (MPCs) at UK Ranges since 2008, including those that are currently planned for 2009 and 2010, are set out as follows. Additional MPCs are likely to be added to the schedule in due course.
	
		
			  MOD Aberporth 
			  Date  Missile details  Number of MPC 
			 2008 Sidewinder 18 
			  ASRAAM(2) (inc. above) 
			
			 2009 (to date) ASRAAM(2) 3 
			  Sidewinder 2 
			
			 2009 (scheduled) Sidewinder 2 
			
			 2010 (scheduled) - 0 
		
	
	
		
			  MOD  Hebrides 
			  Date  Missile details  Number of MPC 
			 2008 Rapier 2 
			  AMRAAM(3) 1 
			
			 2009 (to date) Rapier 2 
			  HVM 1 
			
			 2009 (scheduled) Rapier 1 
			
			 2010 (scheduled) ASRAAM(2)( )and AMRAAM(3) 1 
			  Rapier (tbc) 2 
		
	
	
		
			  MOD  Manorbier 
			  Date  Missile details  Number of MPC 
			 2008 HVM(4) 6 
			 2009 (to date) HVM(4) 9 
			 2009 (scheduled) HVM(4) 2 
			 2010 (scheduled) HVM(4) 1 
		
	
	
		
			  South West Approaches 
			  Date  Missile details  Number of MPC 
			 2009 (scheduled) Sea Dart 1 
			 (1) Defined as a training exercise involving air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles for UK forces. (2) Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile. (3) Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. (4) High Velocity Missile.

Helicopters: Afghanistan

Gisela Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the adequacy of the provision of helicopters for use by British armed forces on operations in Afghanistan.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 September 2009
	I have regular discussions with my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary about all aspects of the campaign in Afghanistan. We continually monitor the level of helicopter provision and make adjustments based on the requirements of our military commanders. For example, between November 2006 and April 2009 we increased the number of airframes by 60 per cent. and the number of flying hours by 84 per cent. As well as sharing coalition helicopters, we lease hundreds of hours each month from commercial operators for routine supplies.

Met Office: Pay

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what criteria determine the awarding of bonuses to staff at the Met Office; and if he will make a statement.

Kevan Jones: Met Office staff are eligible to receive bonuses based on performance against specific targets agreed and monitored by the Met Office Board, which are linked to the success of the Met Office at either individual, team or organisational level. Bonus payments are non-consolidated and represent part of Met Office staff remuneration which is at risk and needs to be re-earned each year.

Military Bases

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the level of use of each British military training site was in each of the last 10 years.

Kevan Jones: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Oil: Scotland

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the  (a) environmental and  (b) safety impact of the oil spill at Faslane on 29 July 2009; and what steps he plans to take to reduce the incidence of oil spillage from naval fuel depots in Scotland.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 9 September 2009
	All Royal Navy fuel depots are subject to stringent safety regulations and are inspected and licensed on an annual basis. MOD is working closely with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to investigate the oil spillage that occurred at Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde on 29 July 2009 and the findings are due to be published in the next few months. As part of this work, an independent marine biologist is assessing the environmental impact of the incident and qualified departmental staff are also carrying out daily inspections of the affected area. The initial findings are that appropriate control measures were in place to contain the spillage resulting in minimal pollution to the local environment.
	The initial assessments have similarly found that the oil spillage resulted in minimal impact to safety, including to the personnel employed at the naval base. Results to date also indicate that the incident was dealt with in accordance with the naval base's Oil Spill Contingency Plan by qualified departmental personnel who had access to industry standard personal protective equipment.
	The Department operates stringent safety operating procedures to ensure that the risk of oil spills is kept as low as reasonably practicable. The circumstances of the spillage are unique to the fuels infrastructure at Faslane and are not replicated across the wider naval fuel depot estate in Scotland. Any lessons learned, however, regarding both the cause of the spillage and our response will be incorporated into working practices and plans as appropriate. Associated risk assessments will also be reviewed to take into account any necessary changes.

Territorial Army: Higher Education

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on each university corps in the University Officer Training Corps in each year since 1997.

Kevan Jones: There are 19 University Officer Training Corps (UOTCs) in the United Kingdom. Their costs are calculated at regional brigade level not by individual unit.
	The table shows the expenditure by each brigade for the last three financial years where information is available. The figures have been rounded to two decimal places and the sum of the component parts may not equal the total which is also a rounded figure.
	
		
			  Million 
			  Regional brigades  UOTCs within the brigade  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 51 Scottish Brigade Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde, Tayforth 6.44 5.05 5.28 
			 15 North East Brigade Leeds, Northumbrian, Sheffield 4.57 4.04 4.11 
			 42 North West Brigade Liverpool, Manchester 2.48 2.46 2.62 
			 160 Wales Brigade Wales 1.45 1.42 1.82 
			 143 West Midlands Brigade Birmingham 1.42 1.31 1.66 
			 49 East Brigade Cambridge, East Midlands 2.78 2.84 3.10 
			 43 Wessex Brigade Bristol, Exeter 2.82 2.53 2.97 
			 145 Home Counties Brigade Oxford, Southampton 2.68 2.56 2.73 
			 HQ London District London 2.00 2.03 2.32 
			 38 Irish Brigade Belfast - 1.49 1.52 
			 Total  26.64 25.72 28.13 
		
	
	Information on costs prior to 2006-07 is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Type 42 Destroyers

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on recycling decommissioned Type 42 destroyers to date.

Quentin Davies: MOD is committed to disposing of its ships in the most environmentally sound and cost effective manner.
	Four Type 42 destroyers have been recycled to date (Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle). The cost of recycling HMS Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle was approximately £1.09 million per platform. These costs included the preparation necessary to meet environmental requirements, equipment removals, overhaul, repair, transport and storage.
	Records are no longer held of the costs associated with the preparation of HMS Birmingham for disposal.

Type 42 Destroyers

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where each of the Type 42 destroyers which remain to be decommissioned will be recycled.

Quentin Davies: No decisions have yet been made on the recycling of the Type 42 destroyers which remain to be decommissioned, but all commercial options will be considered for their disposal in the most environmentally sound and cost effective manner.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what account his Department took of levels of taxation of air travel in  (a) the Netherlands and  (b) Belgium in assessing the likely effect of changes in air passenger duty on the global competitiveness of the UK aviation industry.

Ian Pearson: Rates are set after careful deliberation by Ministers, taking into account the full range of relevant factors. The most recent impact assessment can be found here:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ria/apd-reform-ia.pdf

Financial Services: Pay

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the UK financial services sector on the likely effects on competitiveness in the sector of an imposition of a cap on bonuses in other EU member states.

Ian Pearson: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide range of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Housing: Valuation

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many properties are recorded with each  (a) individual dwelling house code and  (b) value significant code in the local authority areas of Shropshire, according to electronic records held by the Valuation Office Agency.

Stephen Timms: The number of domestic properties with the codes requested, as at 2 September 2009, in the Billing Authorities Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham and South Shropshire, is as follows:
	
		
			  (a) Dwelling  house codes (group type) 
			  C odes  Number of properties 
			 01 9,445 
			 02 5,645 
			 03 5,365 
			 04 4,244 
			 05 673 
			 06 95 
			 07 2,155 
			 08 1,468 
			 09 1,019 
			 10 2,119 
			 13 38 
			 14 205 
			 19 230 
			 20 3,632 
			 21 7,158 
			 24 954 
			 25 88 
			 30 5,543 
			 31 51,318 
			 32 12,861 
			 35 661 
			 36 549 
			 37 29 
			 39 35 
			 40 838 
			 41 198 
			 42 312 
			 43 126 
			 44 169 
			 45 88 
			 46 40 
			 48 58 
			 50 22 
			 51 4,038 
			 52 5 
			 55 12 
			 56 2,360 
			 60 1,850 
			 61 418 
			 62 638 
			 70 774 
			 71 1,205 
			 72 9 
			 80 112 
			 81 36 
			 82 6 
			 90 35 
			 91 0 
			 92 0 
			 94 0 
			 95 0 
			 96 0 
			 97 0 
			 98 0 
			 99 38 
		
	
	
		
			  (b) Value significant codes 
			  Codes  Number of properties 
			 A 50 
			 AM 715 
			 AO 214 
			 AV 0 
			 AW 97 
			 B 23 
			 BA 21 
			 BB 9 
			 BC 15 
			 BD 62 
			 C 0 
			 CB 13 
			 CH 5 
			 CI 5 
			 CN 81 
			 CO 10 
			 CP 230 
			 CS 84 
			 D 0 
			 DS 346 
			 EF 36 
			 F 0 
			 FC 5 
			 FG 5 
			 FO 3 
			 FP 5 
			 GG 5 
			 GN 22 
			 HO 0 
			 I 0 
			 L 56 
			 LE 79 
			 LF 185 
			 LR 74 
			 LS 23 
			 LT 34 
			 M 0 
			 NA 50 
			 OS 11 
			 P 0 
			 PL 84 
			 PS 27 
			 Q 6 
			 QA 5 
			 QB 5 
			 QC 5 
			 QD 5 
			 R 0 
			 RC 119 
			 S 0 
			 SC 8 
			 T 0 
			 TM 45 
			 TQ 28 
			 TU 145 
			 U 11 
			 UC 325 
			 UL 22 
			 UN 309 
			 UO 20 
			 UP 5 
			 UR 14 
			 US 8,132 
			 V 20 
			 VC 5 
			 VE 0 
			 VH 71 
			 VI 205 
			 VL 8 
			 VM 5 
			 VO 97 
			 VP 14 
			 VR 22 
			 VS 12 
			 WK 198 
			 X 288 
			 YG 11 
			 ZH 180 
			 ZI 92 
			 ZJ 3,173 
			 ZL 21,273 
			 ZN 854 
			  Notes: 1. For both,  (a) and  (b) above, where a value of '5 is displayed', this is to prevent individual properties being identified.  2. Of the dwelling house codes, only group type has been provided. Information about the number of domestic properties recorded against other dwelling house codes is commercially confidential.

Non-domestic Rates: Ports

Bob Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what external legal costs the Valuation Office Agency has incurred on cases relating to the new retrospective business rates being levied on firms in ports; and which legal firms and chambers have been instructed in such cases.

Stephen Timms: There are no new retrospective business rates being levied on firms in ports. The statutory provisions under which the occupiers of land and buildings in ports are being assessed to non-domestic rates was enacted by Parliament in 1988; and the principle that assessments may be back-dated to the first day of the current list in appropriate circumstances has been a feature of that legislation since its first enactment. The Valuation Office Agency has so far incurred £18,943.71 in external legal costs in cases arising out of the Valuation Office Agency's review of port hereditaments.
	These costs are all Counsel's fees, and the Valuation Office Agency has instructed Counsel practising from Landmark Chambers, Wilberforce Chambers and 1 Crown Office Row.

Non-domestic Rates: Ports

Bob Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which QCs have been hired by the Valuation Office Agency in relation to valuation hearings and tribunals relating to the new retrospective business rates being levied on firms in ports.

Stephen Timms: There are no new retrospective business rates being levied on firms in ports. The statutory provisions under which the occupiers of land and buildings in ports are being assessed to non-domestic rates was enacted by Parliament in 1988; and the principle that assessments may be back-dated to the first day of the current list in appropriate circumstances has been a feature of that legislation since its first enactment. The only Queen's Counsel who has so far been instructed on behalf of the Valuation Office Agency in relation to Valuation Tribunal hearings arising out of the Valuation Office Agency's review of port hereditaments is Jonathan Karas QC.

Valuation Office: Data Protection

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the Valuation Office Agency's policy is on whether property attribute data on individual dwellings are treated as personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Stephen Timms: The Valuation Office Agency treats all domestic property attribute data as personal data.
	In doing so it follows the guidance issued by the Information Commissioner which is available at:
	http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/detailed_specialist_guides/personal_data_flowchart_v1_with_preface001.pdf.

Valuation Office: Disclosure of Information

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Valuation Office Agency's freedom of information disclosure log for December 2006, what the Agency's policy is on using information from informers.

Stephen Timms: The Valuation Office Agency's policy on using information from informers is set out in Section 10 of their Customer Services Manual which is available at:
	www.voa.gov.uk/instructions/chapters/customer-service-manual/frame.htm.

Valuation Office: ICT

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much  (a) the Valuation Office Agency and  (b) contractors on its behalf have spent (i) in total and (ii) since September 2005 on the automated valuation model.

Stephen Timms: Expenditure by  (a) the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to secure the investment in its automated valuation model (AVM) technology, to support a range of its activities, has amounted to approximately
	(i) £13.7 million in total; which includes
	(ii) £6.7 million since September 2005.
	These figures include payments made to the VOA's IT supplier, Capgemini, a proportion of which covers their expenditure with third party IT suppliers (under separate contracts). As the VOA is not party to these separate contracts, it is not possible to provide the amount spent by  (b) contractors working on their behalf.

Valuation Office: Pay

Bob Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to page 30 of the Valuation Office Agency's Annual Report and Accounts 2008-09, HC 521, what the reasons were for the level of the increase in the salary including performance pay of the Chief Executive; and what that increase was in percentage terms.

Stephen Timms: The pay and remuneration for the chief executive is set in the context and the parameters of the overall senior civil service (SCS) pay award for each year and is determined by the pay committee of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) acting in accordance with pay award and HMRC pay policy. The SCS pay award is determined annually by the independent Senior Salaries Review Board. Comparatives of pay and remuneration for all directors of the agency to the previous year are shown in the Financial Statements, available at:
	www.voa.gov.uk/publications/index.htm

VAT: Lighting

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the European VAT agreement relating to light emitting diode lightbulbs; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: No further discussions have taken place at EU level regarding reduced rates of VAT since the March 2009 ECOFIN.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Attendance Allowance

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2009,  Official Report, column 115W, on disability living allowance, how many applications for disability living allowance in respect of those aged 65 years or more were reprocessed as a claim for attendance allowance in the last 12 months.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Crisis Loans

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in  (a) England and Wales,  (b) each region in England and  (c) each parliamentary constituency in England and Wales (i) applied for and (ii) received a crisis loan in each quarter of 2008-09.

Helen Goodman: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The available information is in the following tables.
	Information is not available for parliamentary constituencies.
	
		
			  Crisis loan applications received in (a) England and Wales and (b) each region in England in 2008-09 by quarter 
			  Thousand 
			  Area  Quarter 1  (April 2008 to June 2008)  Quarter 2  (July 2008 to September 2008)  Quarter 3  (October 2008 to December 2008)  Quarter 4  (January 2009 to March 2009) 
			 England and Wales 534.7 586.9 615.7 744.4 
			  
			 East of England 45.2 48.1 51.2 68.7 
			 East Midlands 28.1 28.4 32.9 47.1 
			 London 57.1 61.5 67.5 84.2 
			 North East 48.0 55.4 55.6 56.0 
			 North West 117.2 137.5 144.6 172.6 
			 South East 75.4 73.5 76.0 92.2 
			 South West 29.3 33.7 31.1 37.2 
			 West Midlands 52.6 64.4 67.1 77.4 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 44.4 45.6 48.5 62.2 
		
	
	
		
			  Crisis loan initial awards made in (a) England and Wales and (b) each region in England in 2008-09 by quarter 
			  Thousand 
			  Area  Quarter 1  (April 2008 to June 2008)  Quarter 2  (July 2008 to September 2008)  Quarter 3  (October 2008 to December 2008)  Quarter 4  (January 2009 to March 2009) 
			 England and Wales 356.3 392.9 420.8 524.2 
			  
			 East of England 28.5 30.2 34.7 49.1 
			 East Midlands 17.1 17.5 22.2 34.1 
			 London 38.7 39.9 41.9 54.6 
			 North East 33.8 38.8 38.5 38.4 
			 North West 80.7 98.9 102.6 125.3 
			 South East 53.2 50.7 52.6 63.5 
			 South West 19.7 23.1 22.0 25.7 
			 West Midlands 33.3 41.7 45.9 57.4 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 26.2 26.2 32.1 42.5 
			  Notes: 1. The information provided is Management Information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics, but in this case, we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National statistics and there are some issues with the data, for example, it does not include applications which were processed clerically and have not yet been entered on to the social fund computer system. 2. Awards are initial awards only and do not include awards made on review. 3. Figures are for applications received, not for the number of people who made an application, and for initial awards made, not the number of people who received an initial award. (Some people made more than one application or received more than one initial award.)  Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.

Employment Schemes: Disabled

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what employment programmes are available for disabled people who are out of work but are  (a) not eligible for and  (b) not in receipt of (i) jobseeker's allowance and (ii) employment and support allowance.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Under some circumstances, some disabled people not in work and not in receipt of incapacity benefits, jobseeker's allowance or employment and support allowance, are eligible to access specialist disability provision, which includes Disability Employment Advisers, WORKSTEP, Work Preparation, the Job Introduction Scheme and Residential Training Colleges.
	Access to Work is also available to disabled people out of work, regardless of their benefit status, to meet the needs that may arise when attending a job interview. If they are successful in securing this or any job then they become eligible for the full breadth of support the programme can offer, depending on their support needs in relation to their job.

Employment: Learning Disability

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of the 400 employment opportunities to be created for people with learning disabilities by her Department as identified in the report, Valuing Employment Now, will be in  (a) each region of England,  (b) Wales,  (c) Scotland and  (d) Northern Ireland.

Jonathan R Shaw: The 400 employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities will be offered in departmental offices, including Jobcentres, Pension, Disability and Carers Centres and Corporate and Shared Services offices across Great Britain. We do not have expected distributions of opportunities by region or country.
	The Department for Work and Pensions does not have any offices in Northern Ireland, so none of the 400 employment opportunities will be offered there.

Incapacity Benefit

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate her Department has made of the total monetary value of payments to recipients of incapacity benefit in each year since 1997.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The available information is shown in the table.
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit-Expenditure for Great Britain 
			  £ million 
			   Cash  2009- 10 p rices 
			 1997-98 7,412 9,726 
			 1998-99 7,251 9,316 
			 1999-2000 6,790 8,556 
			 2000-01 6,766 8,415 
			 2001-02 6,749 8,211 
			 2002-03 6,758 7,965 
			 2003-04 6,724 7,706 
			 2004-05 6,662 7,432 
			 2005-06 6,650 7,270 
			 2006-07 6,566 6,987 
			 2007-08 6,658 6,893 
			 2008-09 6,535 6,601 
			  Notes: 1. Figures to 1999-2000 include significant expenditure on people above pension age. 2. All figures are outturn expenditure, rounded to the nearest million pounds. 3. The DWP benefit expenditure tables can be viewed at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd4/expenditure.asp   Source: DWP accounting data, as published in the DWP benefit expenditure tables.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when she plans to reply to the letter of 9 July 2009 from the hon. Member for Walsall North, transferred from the Cabinet Office, concerning a constituent.

Helen Goodman: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 31 August 2009.

Social Security Benefits

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance and  (b) employment and support allowance claims have commenced in each quarter since 1 January 2007.

Jonathan R Shaw: The available information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance commencements in each quarter since 1 December 2006 
			   Number 
			 1 December 2006 to 28 February 2007 149,500 
			 1 March 2007 to 31 May 2007 150,800 
			 1 June 2007 to 31 August 2007 158,000 
			 1 September 2007 to 30 November 2007 160,400 
			 1 December 2007 to 28 February 2008 145,300 
			 1 March 2008 to 31 May 2008 147,500 
			 1 June 2008 to 31 August 2008 154,100 
			 1 September 2008 to 30 November 2008 102,400 
			  Notes: 1. The best statistics on benefits are now derived from 100 per cent. data sources. However, the 5 per cent. sample data still provide some detail not yet available from the 100 per cent. data sources. 2. Severe disablement allowance has been closed to new claimants since April 2001. 3. Figures have been updated to include late notified commencements and are rounded to the nearest hundred. 4. All figures back to 1995 have been revised and may be subject to further change. Figures for the latest quarter do not include any late notifications and are subject to major changes in future quarters. For illustration purposes, total commencements for November 2003 increased by 14 per cent. in the year following their initial release. 5. These figures do not include employment and support allowance, which replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008.  Source: DWP Information Directorate: 5 per cent. sample data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Employment and support allowance commencements: quarterly  time series 
			  Quarter ending  Number 
			 November 2008 54,150 
			 February 2009(1) 141,320 
			 (1) Provisional.  Notes: 1. Case load figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. For on flows, the benefit type is defined as the pay status at the start of the claim. 3. The figures relating to employment support allowance have been thoroughly quality assured to National Statistics standard. However, it should be noted that this is a new benefit using a new data source which may not have reached steady state in terms of operational processing and retrospection. Hence most recent data shown is provisional. 4. Employment and support allowance data can be found on the DWP tabulation tool at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/tabtool.asp  Source: DWP Information Directorate: 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

JUSTICE

Conditional Cautions: Females

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice following the pilots that commenced on 1 September 2008, what decision the Government have made regarding the use of conditional cautions for vulnerable women; and upon what criteria this decision was made.

Jack Straw: Early indications from these pilots show that the conditional caution scheme is a positive way to divert women offenders from the criminal justice system and into supportive services in the community. No decision has yet been made on the further development of this condition as we are awaiting the results of the full evaluation of the pilots in early 2010.

Convictions: Fraud

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many convictions for offences of fraud in relation to child adoption there were in  (a) England and Wales,  (b) the East of England,  (c) Essex and  (d) Castle Point in each of the last 10 years.

Claire Ward: Adoption fraud is not an offence covered by specific legislation, and defendants may be dealt with by different fraud offences. From information held on the Court Proceedings Database, the Ministry of Justice are not able to ascertain which individual cases within these fraud offences relate to adoption fraud.

Dangerous Dogs Act 1991: Hampshire

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) prosecutions were brought and  (b) convictions were secured for offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each local authority area in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in each of the last five years.

Claire Ward: Information showing the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act in the Hampshire police force area, 2003 to 2007 (latest available) are shown in the following table. Data for 2008 will be available in the autumn of 2009.
	Data have been provided for Hampshire police force area as information by local authority is not collected centrally by the Ministry of Justice.
	
		
			  Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, Hampshire police force area, 2003 to 2007( 1,2) 
			   2003  2004  2005  2006  2007 
			 Proceeded against 34 47 42 41 44 
			 Found guilty 16 23 16 21 32 
			 (1) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Evidence and Analysis Unit-Office for Criminal Justice Reform

Departmental Drinking Water

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on water coolers in each of the last six months.

Michael Wills: Expenditure on water coolers can only be separately identified within two areas of the Department-headquarters and the Office of the Public Guardian. Expenditure in the period April to September 2009 amounted to £3,420. Invoices are received quarterly and cannot be broken down by month.
	Identification of expenditure on water coolers in the rest of the Ministry of Justice would involve the examination of a large number of invoices, many held locally within the courts, prison and probation systems, and would incur disproportionate cost.
	The Ministry's policy is to move away from water coolers to mains-fed water filtration systems on cost and environmental grounds. Such a system is in operation in the Ministry's main headquarters building.

Departmental Drinking Water

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department has spent on bottled water in each of the last six months.

Michael Wills: The Ministry's accounting records do not specifically record expenditure on bottled water. To identify relevant expenditure would require examination of thousands of individual invoices, many held locally within the courts, prison and probation systems, and would incur disproportionate cost. It has, however, been possible to identify expenditure on bottled water within the Ministry's headquarters function as stated:
	 April 2009-September 2009:
	Ministry of Justice HQ-£1,315
	Billing is on a quarterly basis so cannot be provided for each month. The expenditure relates to bottled water used for water coolers and dispensers. The cost includes sanitisation and maintenance of these devices. Water dispensers are gradually being replaced by mains-fed water filtration systems across the Ministry's estate. The Ministry no longer provides bottled water when catering for meetings or events within its headquarters buildings.

Departmental Internet

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent on the maintenance of his departmental website in each of the last two years.

Michael Wills: The Ministry of Justice does not separately identify expenditure on website maintenance in its accounting records. However, the Ministry's Information, Communications and Technology division holds offline records on this expenditure for the following business areas for the last two financial years:
	
		
			  £ 
			   2008-09  2007-08 
			 Ministry of Justice HQ 1,410,000 1,625,160 
			 Tribunals Service 146,256 0 
			 Office of the Public Guardian 0 18,000 
			 Total 1,556,256 1,643,160 
		
	
	It is not possible to reliably distinguish website maintenance costs from other IT expenditure for HM Courts Service and the National Offender Management Service except at disproportionate cost.

House of Lords: Reform

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to publish draft legislation on reform of the House of Lords; if he will take steps to promote the Government's proposals for a wholly or substantially elected second chamber; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: Following cross party talks, the Government published a White Paper last year building on the outcome of the free votes in the Commons in March 2007 in favour of an 80 per cent. or 100 per cent. elected second chamber. The statement on 20 July on the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill reiterated our commitment to comprehensive reform of the Lords. We are, therefore, working up final proposals which we hope to publish later this year.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to reply to the letter of 12 August 2009 from the hon. Member for Walsall North concerning a constituent; and what the reasons are for the time taken to acknowledge receipt of the letter.

Michael Wills: The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) target to reply to ministerial correspondence is 20 working days from the date of receipt and the MoJ endeavours to respond to letters as promptly as possible within this deadline.
	The hon. Member's letter of 12 August was not received in the MoJ Ministerial Correspondence Unit until 21 August; taking into account the bank holiday on 31 August this case was assigned a target date of 21 September.
	As Duty Minister for the Department during the summer recess, I replied to the hon. Member's letter on 10 September.

National Archives

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how much the annual budget for the National Archives  (a) has been in each year since 1997 and  (b) is for 2009-10;
	(2)  which organisations were consulted before the decision was taken to reduce the budget of the National Archives by £4.2 million.

Michael Wills: The National Archives was created in April 2003. Since then it has featured in a series of machinery of government changes. The first occurred in 2006 with the transfer of the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) from the Cabinet Office, and the second in 2008 when the Statutory Publications Office (SPO) moved from the Ministry of Justice both adding to the scope of the National Archives' policy and service delivery responsibilities.
	The table shows the resource and capital budget out-turn for the National Archives for the period 2003-04 to 2008-09 and the current budget plans for 2009-10. In order to ensure proper comparability all the figures shown above assume that both OPSI and the SPO are part of the National Archives throughout.
	
		
			  £ million 
			   Out-turn  Plan 
			  Year  2003  2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			  Financial year  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			  Department  TNA  TNA  TNA  TNA  TNA  TNA  TNA 
			  MOG (year and body merged) OPSI   SPO  
			  Budgeting spending
			 Resource 39.1 39.0 42 4 39.3 43.2 45.4 48.7 
			 Capital 3.4 2.0 1.9 2.7 5.8 3.3 2.1 
			 
			 Total department spending (the adjusted total of resource plus capital minus depreciation) 38.2 36.3 39.7 37.2 44.3 44.3 44.2 
		
	
	There have been no cuts to the National Archives' budget. They have recently announced some proposals for restructuring their public services to ensure they can operate sustainably for the next few years. The Lord Chancellor and I have been fully briefed on both the rationale and details of the proposals. We are both supportive of them recognising that these were operational decisions made by the management team.

Political Parties

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he intends to use his powers under section 143(6) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 to produce rules for the inclusion of imprints on election materials that take the form of websites, emails or other similar electronic means; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Wills: The legal requirements relating to imprints on election material are set out in Section 143 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 for printed election material issued centrally by political parties, and Section 110 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 for printed election material which is intended to promote or procure the election of a candidate.
	These requirements do not apply in the case of non-printed election material, although Electoral Commission guidance for parties and candidates is clear that it is considered good practice to include an imprint that complies with the legal requirements on any website that contains information about an election or candidate(s).
	The Government recognise the importance of ensuring proper transparency as to the source of election material, in any form. Where practical, the Government agree that it is a matter of good practice for an imprint to be placed on non-printed material. However, the Government believe that any regulations introducing legal imprint requirements for non-printed material would need to be workable and long-lasting, in particular taking account of the fast-evolving nature of online campaigning. The Government do not propose to introduce regulations requiring imprints for non-printed material at this time but will keep the issue under review. If evidence suggests that further statutory provision is required we will consider that carefully.

Prisoners

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average daily allocation of funding is for food for a prisoner in England.

Jack Straw: For the current financial year the National Offender Management Service introduced a maximum benchmark of £2.10 per prisoner per day. Many establishments already operate below this level and provide good quality food. Those operating above the benchmark are working towards reducing their costs with appropriate central support.
	Evidence and experience has proven that acceptable healthy meals can be provided in prisons within this level of funding by carefully managing menu content and utilising key messages from the Department of Health in regard to promoting a healthy diet.

Prisoners: Transfers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoner transfer applications have been received from foreign governments since 2005; and how many such applications have been  (a) granted and  (b) refused;
	(2)  how many prisoner transfer applications have been made by the Government to foreign governments since 2005; and how many such applications have been  (a) granted and  (b) refused.

Jack Straw: Prisoner transfers are initiated by prisoners who may express an interest to either of the Governments concerned or by a Government. Formal requests for transfer are made by Governments. Between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2008 677 prisoners expressed an interest in being transferred from England and Wales under prisoner transfer arrangements. Of these 376 applications were approved and 102 were refused. 199 either remain under consideration or have been withdrawn. During the same period, 367 prisoners expressed an interest in being transferred to England and Wales, of which 212 were approved and 46 were refused. 109 either remain under consideration or have been withdrawn.
	The transfer of prisoners to and from Scotland and to and from Northern Ireland is a matter for Scottish Ministers and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland respectively.

Prisoners: Transfers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoner transfer agreements the Government has signed with foreign governments since 1979; and on what date each such agreement was signed.

Jack Straw: The United Kingdom is a signatory to two multiparty prisoner transfer agreements: the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons (1983) and the Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Convicted Offenders (1990). The UK signed the Council of Europe Convention on 25 August 1983 and the Commonwealth Scheme on 27 June 1991.
	On 9 February 2009 the United Kingdom signed the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. It was ratified on 17 July 2009 and it will enter into force on 1 November 2009.
	On 27 November 2008 the European Union adopted Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the European Union. It will enter into force on 5 December 2011.
	In addition to the multiparty arrangements to which the United Kingdom is a signatory, the following bilateral prisoner transfer agreements have been concluded:
	
		
			  Country  Date of signature 
			 Antigua and Barbuda 23 June 2003 
			 Barbados 3 April 2002 
			 Brazil 20 August 1998 
			 Cuba 13 June 2002 
			 Dominica 2 May 2006 (not yet in force) 
			 Dominican Republic 18 February 2003 (not yet in force) 
			 Egypt 29 November 1993 
			 Ghana 17 July 2008 
			 Guyana 5 April 2002 (not yet in force) 
			 Hong Kong 5 November 1997 
			 India 18 February 2005 
			 Jamaica 26 June 2007 (not yet in force) 
			 Laos 7 May 2009 
			 Lesotho 6 June 2007 
			 Libya 17 November 2008 
			 Mexico 5 November 2004 
			 Morocco 21 February 2002 
			 Nicaragua 6 September 2005 
			 Pakistan 24 August 2007 
			 Peru 7 March 2003 
			 St. Lucia 27 April 2006 
			 Sri Lanka 6 February 2003 
			 Suriname 29 June 2002 
			 Thailand 22 January 1990 
			 Uganda 2 June 2009 (not yet in force) 
			 Venezuela 17 June 2002 
			 Vietnam 11 September 2008 (not yet in force)

Prisoners: Transfers

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what overwhelming United Kingdom interests he took into account in agreeing to a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya which did not exclude Mr. Abdelbaset ali Megrahi; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: The discussions over the prisoner transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Libya were part of the wider negotiations for the normalisation of relations with Libya following its renunciation of international terrorism and its voluntary dismantling of weapons of mass destruction. I concluded that the normalisation of relations with Libya, including the fight against terrorism, cooperation in stemming the flow of illegal migration, and wider UK/Libya trade relations, were in the United Kingdom's national interest.
	Under the terms of the prisoner transfer agreement prisoners could only be transferred with the consent of both Governments. It was therefore not necessary to exclude Mr. Al Megrahi from its terms. As Mr. Al Megrahi was a Scottish prisoner decisions relating to his transfer were a matter for Scottish Ministers. Scottish Ministers refused Mr. Al Megrahi's application for transfer under the prisoner transfer agreement.

Prisoners: Employment

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of  (a) male and  (b) female prisoners are in paid employment within prison.

Jack Straw: The information is not available in the form requested. However, over the period April to July 2009 male prisoners were engaged in 11.9 hours of work (paid and unpaid) per week on average. For female prisoners the average was 12.7 hours per week. The data are taken from the Regimes Monitoring (Regmon) database by means of a query which only picks out the types of purposeful activity which fall under the activity group of Works. This does not tell us whether or not this is paid work.

Prisoners: Employment

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of  (a) male and  (b) female offenders released from prison were in sustained employment (i) three months, (ii) six months and (iii) one year after their release in each of the last 10 years.

Jack Straw: Information is not available on the proportion of prisoners in sustained employment three months, six months or one year following release.
	However, data are collected on the proportion of offenders entering employment on discharge. Figures since 2007-08 are set out in the following table.
	Prior to 2007-08, the number entering employment were not recorded separately from those entering education or training.
	
		
			   Male/female  Total number of prisoner discharges  Number on discharges with an employment outcome  Percentage of offenders entering employment on release 
			 2007-08 Female 6,033 748 12 
			  Male 84,281 23,592 28 
			  Total 90,314 24,340 27 
			  
			 2008-09 Female 6,800 900 13 
			  Male 91,193 24,565 27 
			  Total 97,993 25,465 26 
			  
			  
			 2009-10 (April to July 2009) Female 2,246 266 12 
			  Male 30,064 7,878 26 
			  Total 32,310 8,144 25

Prisoners: Females

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the  (a) certified normal accommodation and  (b) total capacity to house female prisoners is.

Jack Straw: On 31 July 2009, the total in use certified normal accommodation (CNA) of the female estate was 4,632 and the total operational capacity was 4,822.

Prisoners: Libya

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many Libyan prisoners have been requested to be transferred to Libya since the ratification of the prisoner transfer agreement with the Libyan government signed in November 2008; and what transfers have taken place under the agreement.

Jack Straw: One prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment in England and Wales has sought transfer to a prison in Libya under the provisions of the UK/Libya prisoner transfer agreement. His request is currently under consideration. No prisoners have yet been transferred to Libya.
	The transfer of prisoners to Libya from Scotland is a matter for Scottish Ministers. The transfer of prisoners from Northern Ireland to Libya is a matter for the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Prisoners: Parole

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners on parole from Whitemoor Prison  (a) breached their parole terms and  (b) his Department has lost touch with in each of the last 15 years; and if he will make a statement.

Jack Straw: Centrally held information on those prisoners released on licence and who are subsequently recalled cannot be broken down by the prisons from which the offenders were initially released. To provide the information requested would require a manual check of individual records and this would incur disproportionate costs.

Prisoners: Suicide

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many prisoners have been placed on suicide watch while serving a custodial sentence of each type in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many prisoners have attempted suicide while serving a custodial sentence of each type in each of the last five years;
	(3)  how many and what proportion of prisoners have committed suicide while serving a custodial sentence of each type in each of the last five years.

Claire Ward: Information on 'suicide watches' is not collated or held by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). NOMS has a broad, integrated and evidence-based prisoner suicide prevention and self harm management strategy that seeks to reduce the distress of all those in prison. This encompasses proactively identifying prisoners at risk of suicide and self-harm. At-risk prisoners are cared for using Assessment, Care in Custody and Teamwork (ACCT) procedures. Detailed data are not readily available however some 31,000 ACCT plans are opened each year. These can be opened repeatedly for the same prisoner. There are no easy answers to managing self harming behaviour but NOMS remains committed to finding ways to manage it.
	Without exploring the intent behind a self-harm incident, it is difficult to establish such an incident as an attempted suicide. NOMS does not record intent, and does not hold information on attempted suicides. Table 1 shows annual totals of self-harm incidents by type of custody. Although intent is not recorded and the majority of incidents are not life threatening, analyses show that approximately 1.7 per cent. of all self-harm in prison involves hanging as a method or require resuscitation or hospitalisation on life support.
	
		
			  Table 1: Self harm incidents by type of custody: England and Wales 
			   Number of incidents( 1. 2) 
			   2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			 All 19,579 23,806 23,423 22,897 24,944 
			 Convicted un-sentenced 2,556 3,242 3,222 2,893 3,146 
			 Immigration Detainee 126 129 280 198 198 
			 Remand 3,232 4,048 4326 4351 4297 
			 Sentenced 10,267 12,710 11,509 10,033 11,048 
			 Sentenced - Indeterminate(3) - 41 765 1,872 2,809 
			 Sentenced-License recall 1,353 1,754 1,925 1,978 2,014 
			 Not recorded(4) 2,045 1,882 1,396 1,572 1,432 
			 (1) These figures have been drawn from the NOMS incident reporting system and exclude a small proportion on incidents using the new NOMIS system. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the data collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last individual the figures may not be accurate to that level. (2) In prisons, as in the community, it is not possible to count self harm incidents with absolute accuracy. In prison custody, however, such incidents are more likely to be detected and counted. (3) A new indeterminate sentence Imprisonment for Public Protection was introduced in 2005 and numbers of prisoners held on such sentences have been increasing. They are considered to be an existing high risk group and so the increase in this category if offset elsewhere. (4) The apparent high number of unrecorded custody status arises from the fact that many self harm incidents occur in the early stages of custody at which time IT systems may not have had been fully updated. 
		
	
	Every death in prison is a tragedy, and affects families, staff and other prisoners deeply. Ministers, the Ministry of Justice and NOMS are completely committed to learning from each death and to reducing the number of such incidents. Good care and support from staff save many lives, but such instances go largely unreported. Prisons successfully keep safe in any given month approximately 1,500 prisoners assessed to be at particular risk of suicide or self harm. Deaths in prisons are among the most scrutinised of all incidents and each case is subject to a police investigation and independent investigation by the Prisons Probation Ombudsman. Robust systems are in place for monitoring deaths and learning from them.
	The numbers and proportions of self-inflicted deaths by type of custodial sentence, for each of the last five years, are detailed in table 2.
	
		
			  Table 2: Self-inflicted deaths in prison custody( 1)  by type of custody: England and Wale 
			2004  2005  2006  2007  2008 
			  All  95 78 67 92 60 
			
			 Convicted unsentenced Number of deaths 15 9 4 7 3 
			  Percentage of all deaths 16 12 6 8 5 
			
			 Detainee Number of deaths 1 
			  Percentage of all deaths - - - - 2 
			
			 Judgment respited Number of deaths - 3 1 5 2 
			  Percentage of all deaths - 4 1 5 3 
			
			 Remand Number of deaths 33 28 17 29 20 
			  Percentage of all deaths 35 36 25 32 33 
			
			 Sentenced Number of deaths 47 38 45 51 34 
			  Percentage of all deaths 49 49 67 55 57 
			
			 Sentenced-Indeterminate Number of deaths - - 2 4 4 
			  Percentage of all deaths 0 0 3 4 7 
			
			 Sentenced-License recall Number of deaths 9 6 10 9 6 
			  Percentage of all deaths 9 8 15 10 10 
			 (1) Deaths in prison custody figures include all deaths of prisoners arising from incidents during prison custody They include deaths of prisoners while released on temporary license (ROTL) for medical reasons but exclude other types of ROTL where the state as less direct responsibility. Approximately one third of the deaths in prison custody shown here actually occur in hospitals or hospices.

Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what  (a) ships,  (b) hospitals and  (c) other sites in public ownership other than sites owned by the Ministry of Defence representatives of his Department have (i) visited to assess and (ii) considered for use as prison sites since 1 June 2005; and on what date each such visit took place.

Jack Straw: Site searches are conducted both by National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and external agents on their behalf. NOMS do not hold full and complete records of those searches conducted by agents as this information is retained by them and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Some information is held centrally by NOMS, but this does not include dates of visits.
	The following shows the ships and berths that have been visited and/or assessed and considered for prison use between 2006 and 2008. Information for 2005 is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	 Ship
	Bibby Altona
	MV Scotia Prince
	Bibby Renaissance
	 Berth
	Southampton
	Portland
	Harwich
	Barrow-in-Furness
	Birkenhead
	Garston, Liverpool.
	In addition, NOMS officials visited the following hospitals and other sites owned by public bodies between 2005 and 2008:
	 Hospitals
	Bryn Y Neuadd, Llanfairfechran
	Dobshill, Flint
	Goodmayes, Essex
	Harold Wood, Essex
	Lea Castle, Kidderminster
	Runwell, Essex
	 Sites in public ownership
	Barking College Campus, Essex
	Cardiff Airport, Wales
	Celtic Springs Business Park, Newport
	Cwmbran, Wales
	Dagenham (Beam Park West)
	Dynamex/Ferodo, Caernarfon
	East Quay, Barry
	HMP Featherstone, Wolverhampton
	Felindre, Swansea
	HMP Feltham, Heathrow
	Firestone, Wrexham
	Garth Isaf, Rhondda
	Glynneath Business Park, Port Talbot
	Goat Mill Road, Merthyr
	Greengates Farm, St. Asaph
	Gwent Europark, Magor
	Hirwaun Industrial Park, Rhondda
	154, Wolverhampton
	HMP Kirkham, Lancashire
	Llanwern Steel Works, Llanwern
	Oakdale Business Park, Caerphilly
	Pyle, Bridgend
	Queensway Meadows, Llanwern
	Rassau, Ebbw Vale
	Rhyd-Y-Car, Rhondda
	Severn Crossing Distribution Park, Chepstow
	South Quay, Barry
	Tredegar, Gwent.
	There have been several site search exercises for the London/Essex and South East carried out by NOMS since June 2005. These searches identified over 300 sites, the majority of which were dismissed from consideration at an early stage and not visited. Information relating to those sites that were visited is not held centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether Lancaster is under consideration as a potential site for a new 1,500 place prison.

Jack Straw: No. Apart from the two sites at Beam Park West (Dagenham) and Runwell (Essex) that I announced to Parliament on 27 April 2009,  Official Report, columns 569-80, there are currently no plans to build a 1,500 place prison at any other location. We plan to start a fresh search for potential sites for the remaining new prisons in due course.

Prisons: Females

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many abstinence-based therapeutic programmes there are for drug and alcohol addiction in women's prisons; and how many prisoners  (a) entered and  (b) completed such programmes in each year for which records are available.

Jack Straw: A comprehensive drug treatment framework is available for women in prison. Interventions fall into three groups: clinical treatment (detoxification and maintenance), counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare services (CARATs) and (abstinence-based) accredited drug treatment programmes.
	Currently four different accredited drug treatment programmes are available to women in various establishments: 12-Step, P-ASRO (Prison-Addressing Substance-Related Offending), the Short Duration Programme (SDP) and Therapeutic Communities (TCs). The following table shows the number of prisoners starting and completing these programmes in each of the last five years.
	
		
			   2004-05( 1)  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			   Starts  Completions  Starts  Completions  Starts  Completions  Starts  Completions  Starts  Completions 
			 12 STEP 60 36 61 38 57 37 60 31 56 39 
			 PASRO 152 112 89 99 100 73 74 59 60 52 
			 SDP 152 98 394 264 572 437 571 390 594 412 
			 TC 64 37 33 19 38 23 40 25 16 11 
			 Total 428 283 577 420 767 570 745 505 726 514 
			 (1) 2004-05 is the first full year for which accurate starts and completions data are available.  Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 
		
	
	Where alcohol is part of poly-drug misuse, CARAT services are available to all women prisoners in England and Wales. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is available in 11 women's prisons, although no participation data are collected centrally.

Racially Aggravated Offences

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people in each ethnic group were convicted of racially aggravated offences in 2007; and for what offences they were convicted.

Claire Ward: Data on the ethnicity of persons convicted, in England and Wales, are not available for racially aggravated offences due to incomplete returns.
	The Office for Criminal Justice Reform is currently working with Her Majesty's Court Service (HMCS), and representatives from National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to improve the level of recording in both the police and the courts.

Reoffenders: Foreigners

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of the 954 offenders who had their licence recalled in 2008-09 and have not been returned to custody are foreign nationals.

Jack Straw: In my written ministerial statement of 6 July 2009,  Official Report, columns 34-38WS, on Audit of Licence Revocation, I announced that, as at 26 June 2009, 954 offenders who had their licences revoked between 1984 and 31 March 2009 were not recorded as having been returned to custody. Of the 954, there were 192 foreign nationals. Of the 192, 64 were assessed as meeting the criteria for deportation.
	Over the last 10 years, more than 99 per cent. of offenders who have been recalled to prison have been successfully apprehended. We are determined to build on this creditable performance.
	All agencies are working together to review and revise the end-to-end recall process, to ensure that we have the strongest grip on these individuals and can return them to custody as quickly as possible. The police have an action plan in place to deal with outstanding cases.
	The Probation Service has significantly improved its enforcement of breaches. In 1997 only a third of breaches were being appropriately enforced, compared to over 95 per cent. by 2008. Before 1999 recall was rarely used because such cases had to go through the courts.

Michael Shields

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he expects to make a final decision on a pardon in the case of Michael Shields.

Jack Straw: Mr. Shields has been granted a free pardon. He was released from custody on 9 September.

Michael Shields

Christopher Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of legal advice and representation in the concluded judicial review in the case concerning Michael Shields.

Jack Straw: The judicial review on Michael Shields' application for a free pardon was concluded on 17 December 2008 in the Administrative Court. The total cost of legal advice and representation associated with the judicial review was £64,577 including disbursements and VAT.

Third Sector

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost was of  (a) the Office of Public Sector Information logo and  (b) other rebranding of Her Majesty's Stationery Office as the Office of Public Sector Information.

Michael Wills: The renaming of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) as the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI), which took effect from 1 July 2005, was an internal management unit change at the Cabinet Office to reflect its expanded responsibilities to be the principal focal point within Government for advising on and regulating the operation of public sector information re-use.
	All work on renaming (updating the HMSO webpage, creating a new logo and issuing new business cards) was resourced and completed in house by HMSO staff as part of their day-to-day tasks. No additional costs were incurred and none of the work was contracted out to external suppliers.

CABINET OFFICE

Central Office of Information

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the answer of 20 April 2009,  Official Report, column 351W, on central government: public relations, which public relations firms were on the Central Office of Information's list of accredited public relations companies in each year since 1997.

Angela Smith: I have asked the chief executive of the Central Office of Information to write to the hon. Member.
	 Letter from Mark Lund, dated 11 September 2009:
	As Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information (COI), I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on Public Relations Companies (251054).
	A list of Public Relations companies on the Central Office of Information Framework can be found on the COI website:
	http://www.coi.gov.uk
	A copy of has also been placed in the Library of the House.
	Information on companies from previous frameworks is not held centrally.

Civil Servants: Resignations

David Taylor: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many senior civil servants resigned from office to take up positions in the private sector in each of the last 10 years.

Angela Smith: All civil servants are subject to the Rules on the Acceptance of Outside Appointments by Crown Servants which require them to seek approval for employment they wish to take up within two years of leaving the civil service.
	The independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments advises on applications under the rules from the most senior civil servants. The Committee publishes on its website and in its annual reports, information about its recommendations on appointments that have been taken up or announced. Copies of the Committee's annual reports are available in the Libraries of the House and at:
	www.acoba.gov.uk
	Information about other senior civil servants is not held centrally, and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Jobseeker's Allowance: Chelmsford

Simon Burns: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many and what proportion of young people aged between 18 and 24 years resident in the Chelmsford local authority area claimed jobseeker's allowance in  (a) each of the last five years and  (b) 2009 to date.

Angela Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Jil Matheson, dated  September 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many and what proportion of young people aged between 18 and 24 years resident in the Chelmsford local authority area claimed jobseeker's allowance in  (a) each of the last five years and  (b) 2009 to date. (290995)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. Table 1 shows the number and percentage of persons aged 18-24 claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in each month since January 2004.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			  Table 1 Number of persons aged 18-24 resident in Chelmsford claiming Jobseeker's Allowance 
			   Number( 1)  Percentage( 2) 
			 January 2004 295 2.2 
			 February 2004 315 2.4 
			 March 2004 325 2.5 
			 April 2004 290 2.2 
			 May 2004 245 1.8 
			 June 2004 220 1.7 
			 July 2004 235 1.8 
			 August 2004 280 2.1 
			 September 2004 275 2.1 
			 October 2004 265 2.0 
			 November 2004 240 1.8 
			 December 2004 255 1.9 
			 January 2005 305 2.3 
			 February 2005 320 2.4 
			 March 2005 300 2.2 
			 April 2005 315 2.4 
			 May 2005 315 2.3 
			 June 2005 310 2.3 
			 July 2005 325 2.4 
			 August 2005 365 2.7 
			 September 2005 355 2.7 
			 October 2005 345 2.6 
			 November 2005 340 2.5 
			 December 2005 355 2.7 
			 January 2006 400 3.0 
			 February 2006 430 3.2 
			 March 2006 410 3.0 
			 April 2006 435 3.2 
			 May 2006 380 2.8 
			 June 2006 340 2.5 
			 July 2006 400 3.0 
			 August 2006 400 3.0 
			 September 2006 405 3.0 
			 October 2006 375 2.8 
			 November 2006 385 2.8 
			 December 2006 365 2.7 
			 January 2007 395 2.9 
			 February 2007 425 3.1 
			 March 2007 425 3.1 
			 April 2007 430 3.1 
			 May 2007 400 2.9 
			 June 2007 375 2.7 
			 July 2007 380 2.8 
			 August 2007 380 2.8 
			 September 2007 370 2.7 
			 October 2007 350 2.6 
			 November 2007 335 2.4 
			 December 2007 325 2.4 
			 January 2008 345 2.5 
			 February 2008 350 2.6 
			 March 2008 325 2.4 
			 April 2008 300 2.2 
			 May 2008 305 2.2 
			 June 2008 295 2.2 
			 July 2008 340 2.5 
			 August 2008 385 2.8 
			 September 2008 415 3.0 
			 October 2008 430 3.2 
			 November 2008 515 3.8 
			 December 2008 530 3.9 
			 January 2009 625 4.6 
			 February 2009 770 5.6 
			 March 2009 785 5.7 
			 April 2009 825 6.0 
			 May 2009 835 6.1 
			 June 2009 785 5.7 
			 July 2009 830 6.1 
			 (1) Data rounded to nearest five (2) Percentage of 18-24 years olds claiming Jobseeker's Allowance  Source:  Jobcentre Plus administrative system

HEALTH

Ambulance Services: Greater Manchester

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions his Department's Performance Delivery Team has had with strategic health authorities on the response times of the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service.

Mike O'Brien: It is the responsibility of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts to support ambulance trusts to ensure national response time standards are delivered and sustained locally.
	The Department, via its Performance Delivery Team, continues to discuss ambulance performance with the NHS North West strategic health authority to receive assurance that that they are working with local organisations to address issues for the North West Ambulance Service to achieve and sustain the response time targets.

Antibiotics

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many manufacturers of generic antibiotics had operating manufacturing units at which generic antibiotics were manufactured in the UK  (a) in 1997 and  (b) at the latest date for which figures are available.

Mike O'Brien: Accurate information is not readily available to give an actual number for 1997. There are four known companies manufacturing generic antibiotics in the United Kingdom in 2009.

Asthma

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) people and  (b) children underwent an emergency hospital admission following an asthma attack in 2008.

Ann Keen: The Department uses information from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for data of this kind. HES is the national statistical data warehouse for England of the care provided by national health service hospitals and for NHS hospital patients treated elsewhere. The data are freely available from:
	www.hesonline.nhs.uk
	The latest data for the number of emergency asthma attack admissions to hospital are for April 2007 to April 2008, and are given in the following table. The April 2008 to April 2009 data are not yet available. Note that a patient may have more than one finished episode of asthma for each hospital admission, which explains why episode data exceed admission data in the table.
	
		
			   Total patient admissions  Total episodes 
			 Children (0-15 years) 19,228 24,077 
			 Adults (16+ years) 30,427 36,219 
			 All (total) 49,655 60,296

Carers

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much funding was allocated to each primary care trust from the £50 million provided for funding breaks for carers in 2009-10;
	(2)  how much was allocated to each local authority from the £240 million provided for carer's grant in 2009-10;
	(3)  how much funding was allocated to each primary care trust from the £100 million provided for funding breaks for carers in 2010-11.

Mike O'Brien: The additional £150 million provided for funding breaks for carers was given to primary care trusts (PCTs) as part of their overall baseline allocations. The Department does not break down PCT revenue allocations by policies at either a national or local level and there is no weighted capitation formula specific to carers that would allow needs to be accurately identified at the local level. So it is therefore for PCTs to decide their priorities for investment locally, taking into account their local circumstances and local priorities.
	The allocations made to each local authority from the £240 million provided for the carers grant are detailed in the local authority social services letter LASSL(DH)(2007)2 which has already been placed in the Library.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent representations he has received on the age at which cervical cancer screening starts; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library copies of the evidence his Department used in making its recent decision on the age at which cervical screening should begin.

Mike O'Brien: Since the beginning of the 2008-09 parliamentary year, the Department has received 209 items of correspondence, and 43 parliamentary questions on a variety of subjects relating to cervical cancer, including the age at which cervical cancer screening starts.
	There was an adjournment debate on 17 December 2008, and two Early Day Motions in December 2008 and April 2009 regarding the age at which cervical screening starts.
	There were also two ministerial meetings in March 2009 and one in June 2009.
	The evidence presented to the Advisory Committee on Cervical Screening at its review meeting on 19 May 2009 was published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on 28 July 2009. The study titled Effectiveness of cervical screening with age: population based case-control study of prospectively recorded data by Sasieni et al, can be viewed at:
	www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/339/jul28_2/b2968
	A copy of the summary document published in August 2009 has now been placed in the Library.

Clinical Physiologists: Regulation

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when his Department plans to publish a summary of the responses received in the consultation on The Future of the Healthcare Science Workforce: Modernising Scientific Careers: The Next Steps; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: A summary of the consultation results will be published alongside our policy response in the autumn.

Doctors: Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust takes to establish the qualifications of doctors contracted to MK Doc.

Mike O'Brien: National health service organisations should carry out the necessary checks in accordance with the relevant regulations to ensure doctors are appropriately qualified. Strategic health authorities are responsible for the performance management of primary care trusts (PCT) in their region.
	PCT have a legal obligation to provide a high quality, sustainable out-of-hours service for their local population. All out-of-hours services must be delivered to the National Quality Requirements, ensuring patients have access to consistently high quality and responsive care, regardless of where they live. In order to provide primary medical services a doctor, including a locum, must be on a PCT's performers list. To get on a list, doctors must provide information about their medical qualifications and where they were obtained. The PCT must check, as far as reasonably practicable, the information provided.

Doctors: Working Hours

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors  (a) of each nationality and  (b) qualified in each country (i) are and (ii) have been contracted by MK Doc out-of-hours service since the service was established.

Mike O'Brien: The Department does not collect this information centrally.

Health Professions: Working Hours

Terry Rooney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hours of  (a) general practitioners',  (b) nursing,  (c) dentists' and  (d) surgeons' time was available in the NHS per head of population in (i) Bradford and (ii) England in (A) 1982, (B) 1997 and (C) 2009.

Ann Keen: This information is not collected centrally.
	Information on the total number of staff and full-time equivalent staff within the national health service, dating back to 1995 is available on the Information Centre for health and social care website:
	www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/workforce/nhs-staff-numbers
	2009 figures will not be available until March 2010.

Hospitals: Parking

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much revenue was generated by charges on  (a) staff,  (b) patients and  (c) others for the use of car parks at (i) Broomfield and (ii) St John's Hospital in Chelmsford in each of the last five years.

Mike O'Brien: The revenue generated by car parking charges for staff, patients and other users at Mid Essex hospitals NHS trust Broomfield and St. John's for the last five years are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Mid Essex hospital services NHS trust-car parking charges by staff and visitors 
			  £ 
			   Broomfield hospital  St. John's hospital 
			   Income from staff  Income from visitors  Income from staff  Income from visitors 
			 2003-04 31,851 295,075 13,650 126,461 
			 2004-05 51,366 503,418 12,916 120,645 
			 2005-06 62,383 598,525 12,569 128,913 
			 2006-07 89,000 689,740 2,247 162,214 
			 2007-08 235,443 496,745 4,315 203,449

Learning Disability: Housing

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of adults with learning disabilities were in settled accommodation  (a) in total and  (b) in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Recent figures show that around 65 per cent. of adults (18 to 64) with learning disabilities known to services were in settled accommodation at the time of their latest assessment or review in England from April 2008 to March 2009.
	The information presented in the following table is provisional data published by the NHS Information Centre and shows both England and council level information relating geographical areas from April 2008 to March 2009. This information was collected for the first time in 2008-09 and is therefore not available for previous years.
	
		
			  Number and percentage of working age (18-64) learning disabled clients known to Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) who are in settled accommodation at the time of their assessment or latest review, England. Based on data for NI 145 from the National Indicator Set 
			 NIS Indicator NI 145 Adults aged 18-64 with learning disabilities in settled accommodation 
			  NI 145 NI 145 NI 145 NI145 (VSC05) 
			  Numerator Capped numerator Denominator Indicator 
			  Number of working age learning disabled clients known to CASSRs who are in settled accommodation at the time of their assessment or latest review. Aged 18-64  Number of working age learning disabled clients known to CASSRs who are in settled accommodation at the time of their assessment or latest review. Aged 18-64 The percentage of adults with learning disabilities aged 18-64 known to (CASSRs) in settled accommodation at the time of their assessment or latest review 
			 Cumbria 395 395 1,285 61.1 
			 Northumberland 810 625 1,250 100.0 
			 Gateshead 180 180 480 74.0 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne 410 410 915 89.3 
			 North Tyneside 170 170 505 68.1 
			 South Tyneside 95 95 425 45.5 
			 Sunderland 365 355 705 100.0 
			 Hartlepool Unitary Authority (UA) 205 170 345 100.0 
			 Middlesbrough UA 230 230 665 69.5 
			 Redcar and Cleveland UA 150 150 440 67.9 
			 Stockton-on-Tees UA 170 170 525 65.4 
			 Durham 560 560 1,430 78.4 
			 Darlington UA 145 130 260 100.0 
			 Barnsley 540 270 540 100.0 
			 Doncaster 230 230 725 62.8 
			 Rotherham 425 340 675 100.0 
			 Sheffield 410 410 1,455 56.6 
			 Bradford 565 565 1,520 74.5 
			 Calderdale 150 150 545 54.4 
			 Kirklees 435 435 1,345 64.8 
			 Leeds 285 285 1,595 35.8 
			 Wakefield 480 480 985 97.2 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire UA 375 375 840 89.2 
			 Kingston Upon Hull UA 150 150 445 68.2 
			 North East Lincolnshire UA 155 155 490 64.2 
			 North Lincolnshire UA 155 155 415 74.7 
			 North Yorkshire 420 420 1,060 79.2 
			 York UA 185 185 485 76.2 
			 Bolton 395 330 655 100.0 
			 Bury 280 215 435 100.0 
			 Manchester 480 480 1,550 61.6 
			 Oldham 135 135 535 50.4 
			 Rochdale 185 185 620 59.7 
			 Salford 300 300 665 89.8 
			 Stockport 200 200 655 61.0 
			 Tameside 320 320 765 84.0 
			 Trafford 365 230 455 100.0 
			 Wigan 225 225 785 56.8 
			 Knowsley 250 250 610 81.9 
			 Liverpool 1,205 685 1,375 100.0 
			 Sefton 275 275 735 75.5 
			 St. Helens 100 100 385 50.8 
			 Wirral 275 275 1,065 51.8 
			 Cheshire 380 380 1,565 48.6 
			 Halton UA 185 185 425 86.7 
			 Warrington UA 185 185 440 84.6 
			 Lancashire 750 750 3,195 47.0 
			 Blackburn with Darwen UA 115 115 350 64.8 
			 Blackpool UA 170 170 410 83.2 
			 Warwickshire 295 295 1,190 49.5 
			 Birmingham 750 750 3,220 46.5 
			 Coventry 255 255 790 64.7 
			 Dudley 555 420 840 100.0 
			 Sandwell 285 285 765 75.0 
			 Solihull 110 110 520 41.8 
			 Walsall 180 180 550 64.7 
			 Wolverhampton 110 110 560 39.9 
			 Staffordshire 495 495 1,760 56.5 
			 Stoke-on-Trent UA 170 170 735 45.7 
			 Herefordshire UA 185 185 550 66.9 
			 Worcestershire 285 285 1,460 39.3 
			 Shropshire 390 390 800 97.3 
			 Telford and the Wrekin UA 155 155 445 68.5 
			 Lincolnshire 690 690 1,655 83.1 
			 Northamptonshire 515 515 1,420 72.8 
			 Derbyshire 565 565 2,120 53.4 
			 Derby UA 150 150 505 60.3 
			 Leicestershire 435 435 1,305 66.4 
			 Leicester UA 335 335 835 79.6 
			 Rutland UA 55 35 70 100.0 
			 Nottinghamshire 900 900 2,165 83.0 
			 Nottingham UA 285 285 660 85.9 
			 Hertfordshire 645 645 3,100 41.5 
			 Norfolk 430 430 2,215 39.0 
			 Oxfordshire 605 605 1,315 92.3 
			 Suffolk 970 810 1,620 100.0 
			 Bedfordshire 630 315 1,075 58.6 
			 Luton UA 180 180 400 89.2 
			 Buckinghamshire 500 500 1,265 78.9 
			 Milton Keynes UA 155 155 475 65.8 
			 Bracknell Forest UA 100 100 270 73.1 
			 West Berkshire UA 115 115 375 61.1 
			 Reading UA 150 150 415 72.2 
			 Slough UA 175 170 340 100.0 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead UA 195 155 310 100.0 
			 Wokingham UA 170 170 415 80.6 
			 Essex 1,060 1,060 3,435 61.7 
			 Southend-on-Sea UA 355 250 495 100.0 
			 Thurrock UA 75 75 200 73.3 
			 Cambridgeshire 495 495 1,365 72.7 
			 Peterborough UA 210 210 600 70.7 
			 Camden 155 155 320 97.5 
			 Greenwich 270 270 655 82.4 
			 Hackney 230 230 655 70.7 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 120 120 410 59.2 
			 Islington 130 130 450 57.2 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 165 135 270 100.0 
			 Lambeth 115 115 500 46.2 
			 Lewisham 240 240 690 69.6 
			 Southwark 195 195 615 63.9 
			 Tower Hamlets 235 235 600 77.4 
			 Wandsworth 70 70 665 21.7 
			 Westminster 195 195 510 76.6 
			 City of London 10 5 15 100.0 
			 Barking and Dagenham 190 135 270 100.0 
			 Barnet 145 145 735 39.6 
			 Bexley 275 235 475 100.0 
			 Brent 425 420 840 100.0 
			 Bromley 80 80 795 20.6 
			 Croydon 255 255 1,100 46.3 
			 Ealing 255 255 905 56.3 
			 Enfield 300 300 730 82.7 
			 Haringey 245 245 580 84.8 
			 Harrow 165 165 465 70.1 
			 Havering 80 80 470 34.3 
			 Hillingdon 160 160 570 56.5 
			 Hounslow 220 220 545 80.1 
			 Kingston upon Thames 115 115 315 71.5 
			 Merton 125 125 450 54.8 
			 Newham 290 290 710 82.0 
			 Redbridge 495 325 650 100.0 
			 Richmond upon Thames 65 65 365 35.5 
			 Sutton 130 130 520 50.6 
			 Waltham Forest 100 100 370 52.8 
			 Isle of Wight UA 110 110 555 40.1 
			 Surrey 645 645 3,055 42.4 
			 West Sussex 530 530 1,565 67.8 
			 Dorset 290 290 950 61.3 
			 Bournemouth UA 175 175 435 81.0 
			 Poole UA 200 200 400 99.3 
			 Hampshire 905 905 2,975 61.0 
			 Portsmouth UA 45 45 590 14.9 
			 Southampton UA 125 125 350 71.2 
			 East Sussex 390 390 1,345 58.1 
			 Brighton and Hove UA 190 190 710 54.0 
			 Wiltshire 380 380 845 89.9 
			 Swindon UA 90 90 530 33.5 
			 Kent 700 700 3,820 36.8 
			 Medway Towns UA 350 345 690 100.0 
			 Cornwall 600 600 1,825 65.8 
			 Gloucestershire 270 270 1,565 34.4 
			 Somerset 330 330 1,430 45.9 
			 Isles of Scilly (1)- (1)- (1)- (1)- 
			 Bath and Somerset UA 55 55 375 30.4 
			 Bristol UA 245 245 1,220 39.8 
			 North Somerset UA 100 100 375 52.0 
			 South Gloucestershire UA 230 230 695 65.7 
			 Devon 900 900 2,100 85.9 
			 Plymouth UA 385 385 825 93.7 
			 Torbay UA 140 100 205 100.0 
			  
			 England total: complete data 45,610 43,095 132,285 65.2 
			 (1) Constituent values less than 5 are suppressed, where elements of an indicator are suppressed the indicator itself is also suppressed.  Note:  Values are rounded to the nearest 5.

Mental Health: Employment

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of adults receiving secondary mental health services were in employment  (a) in total and  (b) in each of the smallest geographical areas for which figures are available in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The data requested for previous years were not collected, however information for 2008-09 is due to be published later this year.

Motor Neurone Disease: Wheelchairs

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when officials from his Department last met representatives of the Motor Neurone Disease Association to discuss wheelchair services; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Departmental officials last met representatives of the Motor Neurone Disease Association to discuss wheelchair services on 23 April 2009.
	The provision of wheelchair services is the responsibility of primary care trusts. However, we recognise the importance of people-including those with Motor Neurone Disease and other rapidly progressing conditions-receiving the services and support they need, which is why we commissioned the Care Services Efficiency Programme in June 2006 to develop a new model for the delivery of community equipment and wheelchair services.

NHS: Manpower

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the recent report on NHS staffing by McKinsey and Company was commissioned by his Department; and at what cost.

Mike O'Brien: The report on achieving world class productivity was commissioned in February 2009. Publishing the cost would raise issues of commercial confidentiality.

Olympic Games 2012: Manpower

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent members of staff of  (a) his Department and  (b) its associated public bodies are working on projects relating to legacy planning for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and what plans he has for such staffing levels in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Mike O'Brien: The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a key priority across Government. An Olympic and Paralympic Health Programme has been established in the Department to support delivery of all health related bid commitments. In particular, the Department recognises the unique potential of the Games to inspire individuals to make a commitment to be more physically active and leave a lasting health legacy for the nation. The Department will contribute to the cross-Government delivery of the Legacy Action Plan (LAP), Before, During and After: Making the most of the 2012 Games, target to make two million more adults active by 2012 and ensure a health legacy for the Games.
	There are nine full-time equivalents working on the programme within the Department.
	It is not possible to provide a breakdown of staff who are exclusively working on legacy planning roles as every project in the programme in the Department has been asked to consider legacy issues to ensure that there is a lasting benefit to the nation. Information on staff working on legacy planning in associated public bodies is not held centrally.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will exempt from the payment of prescription charges those with coeliac disease.

Mike O'Brien: We have asked the President of the Royal College of Physicians (Professor Ian Gilmore) to carry out a review of prescription charges that will consider how to implement the commitment to exempt patients with long-term conditions from prescription charges. Professor Gilmore is due to report on his review of prescription charges to departmental Ministers in the autumn.

Smoking: Motor Vehicles

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department takes to enforce legislation on smoking in vehicles used for business purposes; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The enforcement of these regulations is the responsibility of local authorities. Prior to the law coming into effect in July 2007 the Department and local authorities went to great lengths to inform all those responsible that vehicles used for business purposes by more than one person should be smokefree at all times. These efforts have successfully resulted in very high compliance rates. Across England in the first two years since July 2007, the overall compliance rates for vehicles were 93.3 per cent. (signage) and 98.2 per cent. (vehicles smokefree).
	The Department has supported the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) in their work to provide enforcement advice and support to local authorities.
	A copy of the latest data, Smokefree Legislation Compliance Data January to June 2009 will be placed in the Library. These data are also available on the Smokefree England website:
	www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/thefacts/national-compliance-data.html

Smoking: Public Places

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) fines,  (b) prosecutions and  (c) convictions there have been against managers or occupants of smoke-free premises for (i) failure to display no-smoking signs and (ii) failure to prevent smoking in a smoke-free place; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: These data are not collected in the form requested. The Department does however publish regular summaries of Smokefree Legislation Compliance Data. These are available on the website:
	http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/thefacts/national-compliance-data.html
	A copy of the last data, Smokefree Legislation Compliance Data January to June 2009 has been placed in the Library.
	The Smokefree Law in England has been a success since it began on 1 July 2007 requiring only a relatively small number of fines or court cases. The law has had very widespread support from the public and has greatly improved the working conditions of those who were formerly exposed to the dangers of secondhand smoke.
	In the first two years across the whole of England overall compliance rates have been very high, with the numbers of premises recorded as being no-smoking above 98 per cent.
	In the first two years across the whole of England only 73 court hearings have been necessary.

Swimming

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the health benefits of the free swimming initiative for children and pensioners.

Mike O'Brien: Swimming exercises most of the main muscle groups, strengthens the lungs and is suitable for those requiring low impact exercise, for example, women during pregnancy, people who have mobility problems or those who need to protect their joints.
	These considerations informed several bi-lateral conversations between the then Secretary of State for Culture and the former Secretary of State for Health on the scope of the overall free swimming programme, and ongoing discussions between policy officials at the quarterly free swimming programme board.

Swine Flu: Cambridgeshire

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken to assist Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust to cope with increases in cases of swine flu; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: The national health service has been preparing for a pandemic for several years. In 2007 we published Pandemic flu: a national framework for responding to an influenza pandemic, which set out the Government's strategic approach for responding to an influenza pandemic and gave guidance to public and private organisations developing response plans. A copy has already been placed in the Library. The national framework was supported by a range of guidance for healthcare and social care organisations.
	The NHS operating framework for 2008 required all NHS organisations to have robust plans in place to respond to a pandemic by the end of 2008. Ian Dalton, National Director of NHS Flu Resilience wrote to NHS Chief Executives on 2 July 2009 setting out resilience actions for NHS Boards to test their plans.
	During 2009, the Department of Health has continued to support NHS organisations. In July the National Pandemic Flu Service was launched which has been successful in reducing the pressure on general practitioners and primary care services and enabling patients to access anti-virals rapidly according to local needs.

Swine Flu: Cambridgeshire

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doses of  (a) Tamiflu and  (b) Relenza (i) have been and (ii) are planned to be made available to Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust; how many doses of swine flu vaccine are planned to be made available to the Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: As of 9 September 2009 just over 100,000 packs of Tamiflu capsules, around 800 bottles of solution/suspension for use by children under one and nearly 3,500 courses of Relenza have been issued to Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). The PCTs future requirements will depend on the take up of the antiviral stocks as the pandemic progresses.
	Once the swine flu vaccine has been licensed, the intention is that initial supplies will be sent out to all PCTs. They will then be able to place regular orders for the amount of vaccine they need to vaccinate their clinical at risk groups, taking account of local storage capacity and implementation arrangements.

Swine Flu: Cambridgeshire

Malcolm Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many cases of swine flu were registered by Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust in each week of the last six months; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many people in the Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust area contacted their GP with symptoms of swine flu in each week of the last six months; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: Information on the number of people who contact their general practitioner (GP) each week is not collected. At the start of the outbreak, cases of swine flu were confirmed by laboratory testing and recorded by region not primary care trust (PCT). This information is available until 2 July 2009 and is given in the following table.
	On 2 July we moved to the treatment phase of the response to swine flu and we are now using clinical diagnosis instead of laboratory confirmation to identify cases of swine flu. This means we can no longer give detailed data about the precise number of cases. However, we have well-established seasonal influenza surveillance systems to monitor the spread, activity and impact of swine flu.
	3,300 GP surgeries provide reports on symptoms of flu in patients as part of the Q-Surveillance scheme and a further 100 surgeries across the country collect information on flu symptoms as part of the Royal College of General Practitioners surveillance scheme. This information is used to calculate the levels of influenza-like illness in England. This information is published on a weekly basis by PCT on the Health Protection Agency website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/hpr/infections/primarycare.htm
	
		
			  East of England Strategic Health Authority Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A cases, by week to 2 July 2009 
			  Date  Number of cases 
			 Up to 3 May 2009 0 
			 Week ending 10 May 2009 5 
			 Week ending 17 May 2009 6 
			 Week ending 24 May 2009 1 
			 Week ending 31 May 2009 8 
			 Week ending 7 June 2009 23 
			 Week ending 14 June 2009 7 
			 Week ending 21 June 2009 43 
			 Week ending 28 June 2009 219 
			 Week up to 2 July 2009 152

Tobacco: Regulation

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research he has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the effect of the prohibition of tobacco point of sale displays on public health.

Mike O'Brien: The Department has not commissioned specific academic research on the removal of tobacco displays, but has considered a wide range of published evidence and information from stakeholders received through the 2008 Consultation on the future of tobacco control.
	The impact assessment that accompanies the Health Bill 2009, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, and the report on the 2008 Consultation on the future of tobacco control, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, provides an overview of the range of evidence that has been considered by the Department. Both documents are available on the Department's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Responsestoconsultations/DH_091382

West Sussex Primary Care Trust: Management Consultants:

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much West Sussex Primary Care Trust estimates it will spend on management consultancy in 2009-10.

Mike O'Brien: This information is not collected centrally. Primary care trusts are responsible for using their resources to plan, commission and develop services to meet the health needs of their local community.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Arctic Sea

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he received on the seizure through piracy of the vessel Arctic Sea and its passage through the English Channel; what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on piracy in UK waters; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Following the disappearance of the Arctic Sea, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Transport (DFT) and other Government Departments kept a close watching brief, focusing on any issues that may affect the UK. The DFT ensured the police were also kept involved. Our embassy in Moscow reported after the ship was located and seized on the actions taken by the Russian authorities.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had no recent discussions with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on maritime security specifically in UK waters.

Eritrea: British Nationality

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens have been held for questioning in Eritrea by the Eritrean secret police in each of the last five years; what support his Department provides to such citizens; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: From our consular records we are aware of four British nationals who have been arrested or detained in Eritrea since 2004, but we do not have sufficient information as to which Eritrean Government agency detained or questioned these four individuals.
	In one case we were informed of the detention only after the individual had been released. In the other three cases we contacted the authorities to clarify the situation and requested consular access.
	Of those three cases, two were subsequently released. We have been unable to confirm the release of the other individual, as the Eritrean authorities do not acknowledge the UK's interest in the person concerned (a dual British-Eritrean national resident in Eritrea) as a British national, and will not discuss the case with consular staff, despite representations.

Holidays Abroad

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on each of its campaigns aimed at Britons travelling abroad in each year since 2001; what research his Department has commissioned into the effectiveness of each such campaign; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Bryant: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 16 July 2009,  Official Report, column 612W.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Know Before You Go campaign is evaluated on a six monthly basis to ensure targets are being met and that it effectively reaches the population. For example, in 2008-09 the campaign reached an estimated 64 per cent. of UK adults, in some cases up to 28.5 times. Our evaluation confirmed that the audience's response was highly favourable. The report also evaluates value for money, such as number of people reached per £1 spent, and the advertising value equivalent of the campaign. In addition, we commission qualitative and quantitative surveys to monitor changes in traveller's behaviour and attitudes as well as providing guidance for the future direction of the campaign.

Horn of Africa: United Nations

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to support the establishment of an EU Special Representative to the Horn of Africa region; when he expects an appointment to this post to be made; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, which took place in Brussels on 27 July 2009, agreed conclusions on Somalia which stated that the Council:
	views positively the possibility of appointing an EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa in order to further enhance the EU's ongoing strategic policy formulation and the coordination of EU activities.
	The Government believe that a high-calibre candidate with a clear mandate could add value to the role of the international community in the Horn of Africa, provided any such appointment complemented the role of the UN Special Representative for Somalia. This issue is due for further EU discussion in September 2009.

Israel: Entry Clearances

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department submitted a further request for an explanation from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the treatment of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak and her travelling companions when they were refused entry into Israel at Ben Gurion Airport in 2006 following its receipt of the MFA letter of 15 January 2007; what steps were taken by his Department following receipt of a copy of relevant file papers from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak in June 2008; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Entry into and exit from Israel is a matter for the Israeli Government. We have raised this case with the Israeli Government a number of times, most recently in October 2008. Their position then was that there was no possibility of investigating the incident further and that they considered the matter closed. We regret that we have not been able to elicit a response further to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs letter of 15 January 2007. The Israeli authorities are not obliged to provide us with a reason why the hon. Member and her constituents were denied entry.

Libya: Terrorism

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department are working full-time on assisting the victims of IRA terrorism to seek compensation from Libya; how many other officials will be employed full-time on this work as a consequence of the implementation of the proposals in the Prime Minister's announcement in Germany on 6 September 2009; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Three officials have been redeployed within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to provide support for the families and their representative-two in London full-time and one at our embassy in Tripoli part-time. The team will also be supported by FCO legal advisers.

Libya: Terrorism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects his Department's unit dedicated to helping those affected by Irish Republican Army terrorism and their families seeking compensation from Libya to be operational; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The new Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Libya IRA Compensation Unit was set up on 7 September 2009. Representatives of the families met No. 10 and FCO officials at No. 10 in a 45 minute meeting on 8 September 2009. The new head of the unit attended. The unit is comprised of three officials-two in London full-time and one at our embassy in Tripoli part-time. The team will also be supported by FCO legal advisers.

Libya: Terrorism

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the team being established in his Department to provide assistance to those affected by Irish Republican Army terrorism and their families will offer legal advice on seeking compensation from Libya; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will not be providing the families with legal advice. We understand that those affected by IRA terrorism and their families have access to their own legal advice.
	The new FCO Libya IRA Compensation Unit will support the victims' families and their representatives by serving as a central point of contact within the FCO, arranging meetings with the Libyan authorities, providing logistical assistance and supporting the representatives of the victims in Libya.

Somalia: Piracy

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken to prevent UK nationals being taken hostage off the coast of Somalia.

Ivan Lewis: The UK takes a leading role in the maritime operations of the coast of Somalia which seek to deter and disrupt pirate attacks and therefore help prevent hostage situations occurring. The UK provides the Operation Commander and the Operational Headquarters of the EU Operation Atalanta; the Deputy Commander of Combined Maritime Forces and the at sea commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Operation Ocean Shield. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently advises against all travel to Somalia and provides specific advice on sea travel in the region.
	The Government endorse the advice, prepared by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) and the International Maritime Organization, on how to prevent, deter and delay acts of piracy off the Horn of Africa. The Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) website contains general advice to shipping companies and ships are encouraged to register with MSCHOA and transit through the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC). In addition, British registered ships receive advice from the Department for Transport, drawing attention to the latest Maritime Advisories in force throughout the piracy threat region. The UK's Maritime Trade Operation based in Dubai advises mariners on planning their passage through the Gulf of Aden.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Advantage West Midlands

Bob Neill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of its projects Advantage West Midlands has  (a) reviewed and  (b) cancelled in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The information is as follows:
	(a) The agency reviewed its Corporate Plan in the first quarter of the 2009-10 financial year, to take account of the changing priorities resulting from the recession (in particular, the need to prioritise support for business) and the reduction in its budget. As part of this exercise the agency reviewed its investment plans and project portfolio. The aim was to ensure that investments were targeted on those activities that would deliver the greatest benefits for the region. From the outset, Advantage West Midlands undertook to continue to fund all legally committed projects that were being delivered in accordance with contractual conditions. This meant that 600 projects, to which it was legally-committed, were unaffected by the review process. The 306 project proposals to which the agency was not yet legally committed were systematically reviewed against the following criteria:
	Impact
	Spatial focus
	Response to recession
	Deliverability.
	All agency-funded projects, once contracted and being delivered, are subject to continuing review through regular monitoring visits by agency project and contract managers. This is standard procedure-the aim being to ensure that projects meet contractually-agreed objectives and fulfil the agreed terms and conditions. Where this has not been the case, the agency has reduced or clawed-back funding on a pro-rata basis.
	(b) No legally-committed projects have been cancelled in the past 12 months. As a result of its project review, the agency announced at the end of June 2009 that, of the 306 non-legally committed project proposals reviewed, 184 had been allocated agency funding. The total investment in these projects and the 600 existing projects over their lifetimes will be c£1.1 billion. Since June the agency has continued to work with applicants to explore alternative funding and delivery arrangements for those projects that were not supported.

Business

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an assessment of the merits of funding research on the effects on the economy of downsizing by companies.

Ian Lucas: Company downsizing is one of a number of industrial issues which my Department has an interest in the context of our work on globalisation and industrial restructuring.
	It has produced research related to this issue in the past, but there were no plans to initiate further research into this topic this year. Decisions about the allocation of next year's research budget will begin in April 2010. There are no current plans to fund further research on the effects on the economy of downsizing.
	Recent departmental publications relevant to the issue of company downsizing are:
	BERR (2009) The Globalisation of Value Chains and Industrial Transformation in the UK, at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file50584.pdf
	BERR (2008) Globalisation and the changing UK economy, at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file44332.pdf
	BERR (2007) Competitiveness in the UK Electronics Sector, at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/sectors/electronicsitservices/publications/competitiveness/page20100.html
	BERR (2007) Analysis of firm structures and outsourcing in Great Britain, at
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file40272.pdf
	BERR (2007) Competitiveness in the UK Electronics Sector, at:
	http://www.berr.gov.uk/about/economics-statistics/economics-directorate/page21976.html
	DTI (2003) Services and Offshoring: The Impact of Increasing International Competition in Services, December .

Business Links

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints have been received by his Department in the last 12 months in relation to the health check offered to businesses by Business Link.

David Lammy: The Department's Ministerial Correspondence Unit handles all complaints about the Health Check delivered by Business Link. Unfortunately, because of the large volume of departmental correspondence, we are unable to provide details of how many complaints have been received in relation to the Health Check without incurring disproportionate costs.

Business Links

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the take-up rate among businesses of Business Link's health check service.

David Lammy: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has devolved responsibility for marketing Business Link services to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to enable them to co-ordinate campaigns in their area.
	Officials in the Department's Enterprise Directorate work with the RDAs to ensure consistent messages are used in campaigns and, wherever possible, support regional activities with national marketing campaigns. The recent Real Help campaign, which ran in February this year, featured Health Checks as one of the measures to help business through the current economic downturn.
	In addition to press and media advertising, the Government have actively promoted Health Checks (both on-line and face-to-face) through the national Business Link website
	www.businesslink.gov.uk/healthcheck
	Activities to increase take up of Business Link Health Checks are ongoing.

Business Links

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of complaints received by Business Link were answered in  (a) 10,  (b) 11 to 15,  (c) 16 to 20 and  (d) more than 21 days in each of the last four years.

David Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by fifteen different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
	There is no central monitoring of complaints received by Business Link. Therefore, to gather information about the response times for handling these complaints over the last four years would incur disproportionate costs.

Business Links

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what targets exist for the time within which Business Link responds to complaints received; and what the equivalent targets were in each of the last three years.

David Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by 15 different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
	The Regional Development Agencies impose targets on their service providers for responding to complaints. The targets for producing a response range between 10 and 15 working days from receipt.

Business Links

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints were received by Business Link in each of the last four years.

David Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by 15 different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
	There is no central monitoring of complaints received by Business. Therefore, to gather information about the total number of complaints received by Business Link over the last four years would incur disproportionate costs.

Business: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department and its predecessors allocated to the development of small businesses in  (a) Essex and  (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years.

David Lammy: EEDA's business support services are funded and operate at a regional level. It is, therefore, not possible to break down funding to the requested level in every instance.
	The following information identifies funding during the past five years for these services and, where possible, in Essex and Castle Point. Please note that not all of these schemes were in place five years ago, therefore details provided go back as far back as possible.
	Business Link East (BLE)-Since 1 April 2007, EEDA has given £32 million of funding to the Business Link Provider in the region to deliver a wide range of business support. During this time, BLE has supported 41,790 businesses in Essex, including 1,612 in Castle Point.
	MAS-East-EEDA has funded MAS-East to the value of £3.4 million for the period 2005-08 and has awarded a further £3.3 million for the period 2008-11. Since November 2005 MAS has supported 362 Essex businesses, carrying out in-depth projects with 38 businesses generating £2,553,100 of Gross Value Added. This has included six businesses supported in Castle Point, working intensively with one company.
	Business finance schemes-Since April 2005, EEDA has awarded 16 Essex businesses £1,328,282 in funding through the Grant for Research and Development scheme, with a further six at approval stage with a value of £481,870.
	Additionally, since April 2006 19 Essex businesses have been awarded £384,712 in Proof of Concept grants, with a further one approved with the value of £8,000. Since April 2004, 19 Essex businesses have received funding Grant for Business Investment (GBI) to the value of £1,242,035(1).
	TakeItOn-49 grants to Essex businesses since December 2007 have totalled £135,596.
	(1) Some of the above are grants to businesses under either the Grants for Business Investment (GBI) or Grant for Research and Development (GRaD) programmes. GBI, previously known as Selective Finance for Investment in England (SFIE), transferred to EEDA from the Small Business Service (SBS) in April 2002. GRaD transferred to EEDA from SBS in April 2005.

Business: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department and its predecessors allocated to the development of information technology businesses in  (a) Essex and  (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years.

David Lammy: EEDA funds a range of regional services to support businesses from all sectors across the region. This includes the regional Business Link service, specialised support schemes and Business Finance grants for eligible businesses.
	While all of these services are available to support IT businesses across the region, EEDA does not specifically allocate money by sector or area.
	Where possible, direct grants to IT businesses in Essex and Castle Point have been identified:
	EEDA business finance grants-Grants to help businesses prove their market or expand their business and a range of loans to support business growth. Since April 2007, EEDA has provided £151,483 to IT businesses in Essex(1).
	TakeITon-Campaign to assist businesses to improve their use of IT, focused on helping SMEs save costs through IT. This EEDA programme started in November 2007. Since then, it has provided £750,678 to help businesses make better use of IT in the region. Within this, £76,561 was provided to IT businesses in the region.
	Of this, £4,572 was directly to IT businesses in Essex(2).
	Business Link East-EEDA has funded the regional Business Link service since 1 April 2007 which supports businesses from all sectors. Since assuming management of the service, Business Link East has interacted with 41,790 businesses in Essex, of which 1,612 are in Castle Point.
	(1) Some of the above are grants to businesses Grant for Research and Development (GRaD) programmes. GRaD transferred to EEDA from SBS in April 2005.
	(2) This programme is aimed at increasing use of IT in businesses and therefore we would expect take-up from the IT sector to be low given their area of expertise.

Business: Insurance

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many applications have been  (a) received and  (b) approved under the trade credit insurance top-up scheme in each month since the scheme was introduced;
	(2)  how much cover has been  (a) requested and  (b) approved under the trade credit insurance top-up scheme in each month since the scheme was introduced.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	 As of 28 August there have been 59 approved applications to a value of £8,429,865 broken down as follows:
	
		
			   Number of policies accepted  Value of policies (£) 
			 May 11 633,000 
			 June 8 1,155,000 
			 July 26 4,476,000 
			 To 28 August 14 2,165,365 
		
	
	31 applications to a value of £1,915,210 have been rejected by the Trade Credit Insurers as being ineligible under the scheme rules. It is not possible to analyse these by month.

Business: Insurance

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications made under the trade credit insurance top up scheme from businesses with an annual turnover of  (a) less than £5 million,  (b) between £5 and £10 million,  (c) between £10 million and £25 million,  (d) between £25 and £50 million,  (e) between £50 and £100 million and  (f) more than £100 million have been (i) accepted and (ii) rejected since the establishment of the scheme.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The scheme is administered by four trade credit insurance companies, who collect a range of information on the Department's behalf. The information on acceptances and rejections does not disaggregate applicants by turnover.
	As of 28 August, 59 applications have been accepted and 31 rejected.

Business: Insurance

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications made under the trade credit insurance top up scheme have been rejected because applicants were seeking  (a) cover in excess of the scheme's value criteria,  (b) to replace withdrawn insurance rather than top up existing insurance arrangements,  (c) to insure export business and  (d) to replace cover reduced prior to October 2008.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The scheme is administered by the four trade credit insurers, who determine whether applications meet the eligibility criteria in accordance with scheme rules. As of 28 August, 31 applications have been rejected. Of these:  (a) none was seeking cover in excess of the scheme's value criteria,  (b) four were seeking to replace withdrawn insurance rather than top up existing insurance arrangements,  (c) none was seeking to cover export business and  (d) none was seeking to replace cover reduced prior to October 2008.

Business: Kent

Michael Howard: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the  (a) rate and  (b) percentage of business failure in Folkestone and Hythe constituency has been in each quarter since January 2005.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	When a failed incorporated business enters into an insolvency procedure it is counted in the official insolvency statistics. However, corporate insolvency figures are not currently available at a sub-national level.
	Table 1 gives the numbers of corporate insolvencies, by type of procedure, in England and Wales as a whole for the period requested.
	Bankruptcies among self-employed individuals are not routinely collated at constituency level, and the population figures from which a bankruptcy rate may be calculated are not readily available below local authority level.
	Table 2 gives the number of bankruptcies among traders in England and Wales as a whole for the period requested.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			   Compulsory liquidations  Creditors' voluntary liquidations( 1)  Receivership appointments( 2)  Administration( 3)  Company voluntary arrangements 
			  2005  
			 Q1 1,101 1,909 114 489 179 
			 Q2 1,422 1,985 167 572 183 
			 Q3 1,454 1,852 170 620 130 
			 Q4 1,256 1,914 139 580 112 
			   
			  2006  
			 Q1 1,473 2,091 180 753 124 
			 Q2 1,263 1,972 153 653 147 
			 Q3 1,286 1,886 93 675 157 
			 Q4 1,396 1,770 162 1,479 106 
			   
			  2007  
			 Q1 1,384 1,890 88 684 96 
			 Q2 1,399 1,792 77 585 102 
			 Q3 1,234 1,879 80 668 129 
			 Q4 1,148 1,781 92 575 91 
			   
			  2008  
			 Q1 1,080 2,182 159 859 140 
			 Q2 1,410 2,279 177 938 131 
			 Q3 1,467 2,592 270 1,007 167 
			 Q4 1,537 2,988 261 2,018 149 
			   
			  2009  
			 Q1 1,555 3,555 316 1,311 156 
			 Q2(4) 1,520 3,539 345 1,027 157 
			 (1) Excludes creditors' voluntary liquidations which follow administration. (2) Includes Law of Property Act receiverships. Receivership figures between Q1 2007 and Q1 2008 were previously revised to remove duplication, and are not consistent with those for the earlier period. (3) Includes administrator appointments and administrations under the Enterprise Act 2002. (4) Provisional.  Note: It should be noted that it is possible for a company to enter into more than one procedure during the course of its insolvency. Apart from for the creditors' voluntary liquidation figures (following administration) shown, these procedures will be double counted. Therefore it is not valid to sum all insolvency procedures together and calculate a percentage of insolvent businesses, as to do this would count some companies more than once. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2 
			   Bankruptcies among traders( 1) 
			  2005  
			 Q1 2,446 
			 Q2 2,835 
			 Q3 2,850 
			 Q4 2,708 
			   
			  2006  
			 Q1 3,150 
			 Q2 2,898 
			 Q3 2,990 
			 Q4 1,856 
			   
			  2007  
			 Q1 1,981 
			 Q2 1,767 
			 Q3 1,660 
			 Q4 1,650 
			   
			  2008  
			 Q1 1,915 
			 Q2 1,828 
			 Q3 2,115 
			 Q4 2,325 
			   
			  2009  
			 Q1 2,798 
			 Q2 n/a 
			 n/a = Not yet available. (1) The Insolvency Trade Classification (ITC) was used to classify trading-related bankruptcies (and company liquidations) until end September 2006. From October 2006 the Standard Industry Classification 2003 has been in use and there have been associated changes to the method used to identify traders among bankrupts. The period covered should not, therefore, be treated as a consistent time series.

Conditions of Employment

Francis Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answers of 17 October 2007,  Official Report, column 1148W, and of 10 September 2007,  Official Report, column 2011W, on conditions of employment, what provisions of the Warwick Agreement  (a) have been implemented to date and  (b) will be implemented over the course of this Parliament.

Patrick McFadden: I refer the right hon. Member to my response to his questions on the 10 September 2007 and 17 October 2007, whereby I explained that the final report of Labour's National Policy Forum in July 2004 formed part of the May 2005 general election manifesto. The Government remain committed to fulfilling their manifesto over the course of this Parliament.

Debts: Government Assistance

David Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to assist those with high levels of personal debt; what steps Ministers in his Department  (a) have taken during the last two years and  (b) plan to take during the next year to raise awareness of his Department's services in their region; what (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation regulates the activities of debt advisers; what amendments have been made to each such enactment; what changes to such legislation are planned in the next 12 months; how much his Department (A) has spent on debt advice in each of the last three years and (B) plans to spend in the next two years; what recent representations he has received on the issue; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The Department provides a broad package of support to individuals with high levels of personal debt. As set out in the Government's White Paper A Better Deal for Consumers: Delivering Real Help Now and Change for the Future published on 2 July, the Government are focusing efforts to ensure that:
	creditors across the board offer some relief to customers who find themselves in financial difficulty;
	free, independent debt advice and support is available for those who need it;
	industry and the advice community both follow best practice guidance in handling clients with problem debt;
	the most appropriate debt remedies are in place to support the over-indebted; and
	there is better legal protection for debtors' property.
	In particular, the Department is funding a new self-help debt advice toolkit being developed by the Money Advice Trust, which will enable debtors to negotiate debt repayments with creditors themselves with more targeted advice agency support. This assisted self-help approach should allow over-indebted consumers to reach agreement more speedily and start making regular payments to reduce their debt. Use of the toolkit will also reduce pressure on the debt advice agencies and allow many more debtors in need of advice to be assisted.
	Debt advisers are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act, last revised in 2006, and are required to have a consumer credit licence. There are no plans to amend the legislation in this latter area.
	From 2006-07 to 2008-09 the Department provided:
	£1 million each year to National Debtline; and
	approximately £15 million in the first year, and £28 million in the next two, to the Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project.
	In 2009-10 and 2010-11 the Department intend to provide:
	£3.5 million each year to National Debtline; and
	approximately £28 million in the first year, and £29 million in the second, to the Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project.
	The Department receives frequent representations from stakeholders on our assistance programmes.

Departmental Recruitment

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of applications for jobs relating to contracts let by his Department from those  (a) with and  (b) without security clearance were rejected prior to interview in (i) April, (ii) May and (iii) June 2009.

Patrick McFadden: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Vetting

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many advertisements for contracts with his Department have included reference to the need for security clearance as a pre-requisite for award of a contract in the last 12 months.

Patrick McFadden: This information is not held centrally and is available only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Vetting

Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applicants for contracts with his Department who were previously security cleared but whose clearance had expired have had their applications rejected on the basis that their clearance has expired in the latest period for which figures are available.

Patrick McFadden: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Dorneywood

Francis Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on what occasions the Secretary of State has visited Dorneywood since his appointment.

Patrick McFadden: None.

Electoral Commission: Codes of Practice

Nick Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2009,  Official Report, column 1443W, on Electoral Commission: codes of practice, for what reasons the Code of Practice on Guidance is not intended to apply to guidance issued to political parties by the Electoral Commission.

Ian Lucas: The Code of Practice is intended to help businesses and third sector organisations comply with their regulatory obligations. The Cabinet Office is of the view that any formal (or informal) definition would not include political parties. The Ministry of Justice is of the view that Electoral Commission guidance to political parties is not within the scope of the Code.

Employment Schemes: Coventry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps the Government has taken to assist young people in Coventry to secure employment.

David Lammy: The global recession has hit the west midlands hard and young people are feeling the impact of this. Government are clear that Britain cannot afford a wasted generation of young people, lost to unemployment and although, under this Government opportunities for young people have improved (at the end of 2008 we had the highest ever rate of 16 to 18-year-olds in education and training in England), a number of measures are already in place that will provide further help to school leavers, graduates and young unemployed people, including those in Coventry.
	For example this year across England we expect there to be 250,000 young people starting an apprenticeship and we have recently announced an extra 47,000 youth jobs supported by the Future Jobs Fund for young people who are unable to find work or training within a year. Through this fund Coventry city council will provide 50 job starts during October 2009 and a further 100 job starts in January 2010.
	We recently launched a national campaign Backing Young Britain to ensure we do everything possible to give every young person help to find a job or training or work skills and experience. This will provide £40 million to fund over 20,000 additional internships so that graduates and non graduates can get higher quality work experience; a new mentoring network to help young people find their feet in a tough jobs market; more help for young people from day one of unemployment through job clubs and one to one support in jobcentres for those leaving education this summer.
	In the west midlands regional partners have responded with their own initiatives to help unemployed young people. For example, the West Midlands Graduate Internship Programme will create 250 graduate internships and, uniquely, graduates who are unemployed may be eligible for job seekers allowance through Job Centre Plus. Also there is a new £2.5 million programme funded by Advantage West Midlands called Grad Central online service,
	www.grad-central.co.uk,
	which will place at least 2,000 more people into jobs over the next four years. In addition, Graduate Advantage, led by Aston University, has funding from Advantage West Midlands to provide a further 400 placements by 2011. Partners are also providing specific help for redundant apprentices.
	Jobcentre Plus in Coventry has a range of measures to help young people in the city secure employment. It is supporting Backing Young Britain by encouraging key local employers, partners and stakeholders to give their personal commitment to offering jobs, apprenticeships, work trials, work experience, internships and mentoring advice. This has been met with a positive response from both the public and private sector, including BUPA Home Care, TUI UK and west midlands police-Coventry division. In addition, Jobcentre Plus advisers have referred 114 18 to 24-year-olds to the extensive job search and confidence building support that is available on the first day of unemployment. Further job search support for groups of 18 to 24-year-old customers is due to start in the near future in partnership with Coventry Connexions.
	Coventry city council and its Local Strategic Partnership has prioritised support to assist young people into employment via its Local Area Agreement. The Local Public Service Board has recently approved the use of £550,000 Area Based Grant funding to support a six-month employment placement scheme, which will provide 100 placements for new unemployed graduates, redundant managers and those in the NEET category that fall outside the Future Jobs Fund and other provision provided by ESF and Connexions programmes.

Further Education: Manpower

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the net change in the number of teaching staff in further education colleges was over the academic year 2008-09.

David Lammy: The number of teaching staff in further education colleges for 2008/09 is not available.
	The latest available information is for 2007/08 when there were some 75,755 full-time equivalent teaching staff in post. This is an increase of 2,988 (4.1 per cent.) on the 2006/07 figures when there were 72,767 full-time equivalent teaching staff in post.

Graduates: Employment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps the Government has taken to assist graduates to secure employment.

David Lammy: While these are tough times for graduates we should not forget that a degree remains a strong investment. Businesses are continuing to recruit through the downturn and are Backing Young Britain by offering internships.
	For those who cannot find work immediately, the government is offering graduates real help to build the skills needed for successful careers longer term:
	The Graduate Talent Pool went live for graduates on 29 July and graduates can now match themselves to internships from a range of employers. Over 12,000 graduate internships are available, most of which will be advertised via the Graduate Talent Pool.
	A low carbon future leaders scheme offering 1,500 places will be created across six Low Carbon Economic areas.
	There are more postgraduate study options (around 24,000 additional places expected) with support available through Professional and Career Development Loans;
	There are around 3,000 extra opportunities to develop enterprise and entrepreneurship skills through the Higher Education Funding Council for England's Economic Challenge Investment Fund;
	Up to 4,000 full-time, and in excess of 50,000 part-time and short-term volunteering places which are available to graduates.

Graduates: Work Experience

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many graduates have obtained a place on the National Internship Scheme  (a) in England and  (b) in Coventry.

David Lammy: This information is not yet available. Monitoring information on the numbers of graduates in England obtaining places through Graduate Talent Pool will be available later this year.

Graduates: Work Experience

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills for how long the National Internship Scheme is planned to operate.

David Lammy: Current contracts for the administration of the Graduate Talent Pool website run to July 2010. We will review the impact and performance of the Graduate Talent Pool later this year and take a decision on how long the service should be offered.

Higher Education: Admissions

Roger Gale: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of funded, full-time university places that will be available for students seeking to commence studies in  (a) autumn 2009 and  (b) autumn 2010 in each region.

David Lammy: holding answer 2 July 2009
	 Our grant letter to HEFCE this year confirmed additional teaching grant funding for the equivalent of an extra 10,000 full-time-equivalent places in 2009-10. We did not specify whether these additional student numbers should be full or part time, undergraduate or postgraduate, but HEFCE estimate that this will result in around 3,000 additional full-time first year entrants. Further to this, we announced on 20 July that we would be providing financial support for an additional 10,000 students in science, technology, engineering and maths over the duration of their course in higher education. We will not receive outturn data on the 2009-10 student population until early 2011.

Innovation Fund

Tony Baldry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the Building Britain's Future document, what mechanisms will be used to ensure that the new Innovation Fund levers in up to £1 billion of private sector funding.

David Lammy: The Government are committing £150 million of tax payer's investment to build a fund of up to £1 billion over its 10-year life. The Government expects that its investment of £150 million will leverage significant investment from the private sector.
	Prior to the launch of the UK Innovation Investment Fund a number of institutional investors expressed an interest in investing in the fund and we would anticipate that the Fund of Funds manager will be able to secure additional private investment from within the UK and overseas.
	On 3 August the Government and Capital for Enterprise Limited issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) from prospective Fund of Funds manager(s) for the UK Innovation Investment Fund. Prospective managers are asked to set out their investment strategies and to demonstrate how they will raise money from private sector investors. We aim to make an appointment in December.

London Metropolitan University

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with London Metropolitan University on  (a) job losses and  (b) reductions in student numbers there; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: holding answer 22 June 2009
	An important principle set out in legislation (sections 65(1) and 68(2b) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992) is that Ministers cannot intervene in the funding decisions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). As is the case with other universities, London Metropolitan University receives grant from HEFCE under a Financial Memorandum which sets out how it should properly account for its public funding. It is for the Funding Council to keep the financial health of the institutions it funds under review to protect the public interest, including ensuring that public funds are properly spent. This month I have met with the UCU representative and a number of staff from the institution.
	I know that the process of restructuring can be very difficult and unsettling for both staff and students, but am pleased that the Council's chief executive has met with the new interim vice-chancellor to further discuss the way forward. The final decision must though rest with the university and I remain confident that higher education provision in general across London will be sufficient to meet the diversity of demand. No Government though can give a commitment to protect every course or department at any particular institution.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Graham Brady: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of payments made under the Vehicle Scrappage Scheme to date relate to vehicles written off for insurance purposes.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	The Department does not hold this information.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Mark Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been spent on the vehicle scrappage scheme; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: £79,540,000 has been claimed and paid under the vehicle scrappage scheme. This information was correct as at 8 September.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many cars have been scrapped under his Department's scheme for vehicles over 10 years old; and how many of those were registered as historic vehicles for vehicle excise duty purposes.

David Lammy: 195,009 orders for new vehicles have been taken since the scrappage scheme was announced in the Budget. This figure covers the period from 23 April up to 30 August 2009.
	We do not hold information on how many of those were registered as historic vehicles for Vehicle Excise Duty Purposes.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Greg Knight: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many individuals have claimed the £2,000 allowance for scrapped vehicles over 10 years old in respect of more than one vehicle.

David Lammy: There have been 112 occurrences of more than one vehicle being scrapped by the same individual or business entity.

Overseas Trade: Afghanistan

Bob Russell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken with the government of Afghanistan to encourage the export from Afghanistan to Britain of  (a) food products and  (b) other products; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Lucas: The role of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is to assist UK companies seeking to do business overseas and overseas companies seeking to invest in the UK. Assisting overseas companies to export to the UK does not fall within its remit. No steps have therefore been taken by UK Trade and Investment to encourage the export of goods from Afghanistan.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) is working to improve the business environment in Afghanistan and to help Afghanistan economic development.

Regional Development Agencies: Trade Unions

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding each regional development agency has granted to trade union bodies since each such agency was established.

Rosie Winterton: RDAs fund initiatives through a variety of third party organisations to deliver projects to increase economic growth, such as on workforce development and economic inclusion. The specific focus and priorities of such activities are set out in each region's Regional Economic Strategy and will differ according to the needs, opportunities and priorities for economic growth in each region.
	The following table shows RDA funding to trade unions for 2003 to 2009. The RDAs retain records of the last six years. To provide records before this period will incur disproportionate costs.
	
		
			  RDA  Total amount of RDA funding to trade unions 2003 to 2009 (£) 
			 Advantage West Midlands 1,151,116 
			 East of England Development Agency 189,000 
			 East Midlands Development Agency 744,000 
			 London Development Agency 911,000 
			 North West Development Agency 801,957 
			 One North East 472,569 
			 South East Development Agency 97,303 
			 South West Development Agency 2,112,592 
			 Yorkshire Forward 446,816

Response With Responsibility

John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to respond to the recommendations contained in the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council's May 2009 report, Response with responsibility: policy making for public risk in the 21(st) century.

Ian Lucas: The Government expect to publish in autumn 2009 its response to the recommendations contained in the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council's May 2009 report, response with responsibility: policy making for public risk in the 21(st) century.

Risk and Regulation Advisory Council: Finance

John Penrose: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the budget of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council is for 2009-10; and how much the Council spent on  (a) secretarial and administrative support,  (b) advertising and marketing,  (c) forum events and  (d) publications in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Ian Lucas: For 2009-10, the budget of the unit responsible for raising awareness of the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council work and tools, covers both work connected to the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council and work unrelated to the Council. It is not possible to give a figure just for the work relating to the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council. However a provisional sum of £70,000 from a separate budget has been made available to this unit to use to raise awareness of the work of the RRAC and encourage the use of the tools it developed.
	The following expenditure figures are in respect of the 2008-09 financial years:
	 (a) secretarial and administrative support: £251,000 (includes staff salaries and associated costs. This figure is different to that given in a previous answer as it represents expenditure rather than budget)
	 (b) and  (c) advertising and marketing (including Public Relations) and forum events: £114,000
	 (d) publications:£28,000.

Safety: Window Blinds

Gordon Banks: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2009,  Official Report, column 324W, on domestic appliances: safety, what assessment he has made of the recommendations of Sheriff Mackie on looped cords for blinds and curtains.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	Officials have now met with representatives from the British Blind and Shutter Association (BBSA) to discuss what actions the industry can take to alert those who already have internal blinds with looped cords installed in their homes. The industry-has produced a leaflet and poster called Make it safe which offers practical advice on how to deal with looped cords installed in the home. This advice can be viewed at:
	www.bbsa.org.uk
	My officials are now considering with the BBSA and others how this message can be used and if necessary further developed to reach the widest possible audience.
	As a result of the discussions with the BBSA, we are also looking at possible revisions to the relevant technical product standard.

Students: Radicalism

Adam Holloway: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Lancaster and Wyre of 15 July 2009,  Official Report, column 507W, on students: radicalism, which institutions will receive further targeted support in academic year 2009-10.

Ian Lucas: holding answer 9 September 2009
	 In academic year 2009-10 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be giving targeted advice and support to institutions in priority Prevent-funded local authority areas.
	A full list of these priority areas can be found on the Communities and Local Government website:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/preventingextremism/lafunding/